Food safety knowledge, attitudes and practices of food handlers in lebanese hospitals: A cross-sectional study

This study aims to assess the food safety knowledge, attitudes and practices among food handlers working in Lebanese hospitals and to explore the association between the obtained scores, handler socio-demographic and working characteristics. An observational cross-sectional study was carried out, using a semi-administered, semi-structured questionnaire interviewing 254 food handlers working in 13 different hospitals located in Beirut (n = 7) and Mount Lebanon (n = 6). The mean age of the 254 recruited food handlers was 37.6 +/- 10.3 years, 63.8% were males, 60.1% had primary level education and the majority (90%) had previously received a course on food safety in hospitals. The most incorrect practice was thawing food at room temperature (72.8%). On average, food handlers scored 59.2%, 83.7% and 83.2% on the knowledge, attitudes and practices questions, respectively and 75.4% on the overall knowledge, attitude, practice (KAP) score. Knowledge scores were significantly higher among food handlers who attended a training course (60.8%, p = 0.001), working in government and hospitals not affiliated to university (71.3%, p = 0.013 and 60.5%, p = 0.013, respectively). Respondents who served for more than 21 years in university-affiliated hospitals were significantly (p < 0.001) more likely to have positive attitudes. The reported practices and overall KAP scores were significantly higher among those who had been working for more than 21 years, in government hospitals. Men scored better than women for practices scores (85.2%, 79.6%, p = 0.001). Results strongly emphasize the need for continuous food safety interventions, training sessions and food hygiene regulations to enhance food handlers' knowledge and improve food safety in hospitals.