Food Hygiene Practice and Its Determinants Among Food Handlers at University of Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia, 2019

INTRODUCTION: Food hygiene is an essential matter of public health for protecting or preventing diseases caused by unsafe food due to lack of good quality from production to consumption. OBJECTIVE: The current study aimed at assessing the food hygiene practice and determinant factors among food handlers working at the University of Gondar. METHODS: Univariate and multivariable binary logistic regression analyses were used to test the association of covariates with the food safety practice. Variables with p-value <0.2 were candidates for multivariable analysis. The adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval and p-values less than 0.05 were used to report associations in the final model. RESULTS: A total of 184(46.7%) of the study subjects had good self-reported food hygiene practice. Being male [Adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 2.37, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.34, 4.19)], educational status (primary [AOR: 2.54, 95% CI (1.16, 5.58)] and secondary [AOR: 2.20, 95% CI (1.11, 4.37)]), workers with greater than 2 years work experience [AOR: 1.86, 95% CI (1.06, 3.25)], monthly income of 2044–4867ETB/month [AOR: 2.05, 95% CI (1.01, 4.16)] were independent predictors of food safety practice of food handlers. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Below half of the study subjects had good self-reported food hygiene practice. Sex, educational status, and income were factors associated with the food hygiene practice. There should be continuous supportive supervision to raise the skills of food handlers to comply to better food hygiene practice. Food hygiene training should be given especially to female food handlers. Frequent audits are also required to ensure the permanence of effective and continuous training. Regular medical check up and strict hygiene follow-up should be encouraged to prevent foodborne disease outbreaks at universities.