Food Safety Knowledge and Practices of Male Adolescents in West of Iran

BACKGROUND: Every year many people around the world become infected with food-borne infections. Insufficient knowledge and skills related to food safety and hygiene are among the factors affecting the incidence of food-borne diseases, especially in adolescents. AIM: The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge and practices associated with food safety and hygiene in Ilam city male adolescents. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Three hundred and eighty of male adolescents aged 13 to 19 were selected randomly and entered the cross-sectional study. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire From December 2016 to February 2017. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, independent t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to analyse the data in SPSS software (version 19.0). RESULTS: The findings of the study showed a positive and significant relationship between knowledge and practices related to food safety and hygiene (r = 0.122; p = 0.018). Also, the findings showed that food safety knowledge and practice of adolescents were significantly affected by the level of their education, parental education level, parental employment status and household economic conditions, (p < 0.005). Also, the results showed that the participants generally obtained 57.74% of the knowledge score and 57.63% of practices score. The subjects had the most knowledge about food supply and storage (60%), and the highest practice was related to personal and environmental hygiene, (61.73%). CONCLUSION: The inadequacy of knowledge and performance of adolescents about food safety and hygiene shows the need for implementation of health education interventions in this area.