Exploring Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices towards Food Hygiene by Hospitality Students in Ghana

Abstract

There have been several reports of outbreaks of food poisoning in Ghana in recent times. Most of these outbreaks were attributed to non-adherence to hygiene practices by employees of the hospitality industry. It is argued that, employees of the industry do not practice food hygiene because either they have little or no training in food hygiene or because of work pressures, lack of equipment and supervision at the work place. Most of these studies have concentrated on employees in the hospitality industry and leaving out hospitality students who are future employees in the industry. The purpose of this study therefore was to explore food hygiene knowledge, practices and attitudes regarding handling of leftover foods, cross contamination and personal hygiene, by first year hospitality students of a tertiary institution who had just taken a course in food hygiene. Questionnaires and focus group interviews were used to collect data. The result was analysed using deductions and SPSS version 16.0 for windows. Findings revealed that, majority of students had knowledge regarding handling leftover food, cross contamination and personal hygiene. There were, however, deficiencies in food hygiene practices and attitudes due to complacency, time, poverty and peer pressure.

Keywords: Food Hygiene, Food poisoning, Hospitality Students, Polytechnics. Training,