Evaluation of food security and hygiene conditions of school canteens in the district of Mezitli
<p><strong>Objective:</strong> This study aims to evaluate school canteens in the Mezitli district of Mersin in terms of food security and hygiene conditions. <strong>Method:</strong> The population of this descriptive study consists of canteens in public and private sc...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Turkish Society of Public Health Specialists
2018-09-01
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| Series: | Turkish Journal of Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://tjph.org/ojs/index.php/TJPH/article/view/741 |
| Summary: | <p><strong>Objective:</strong> This study aims to evaluate school canteens in the Mezitli district of Mersin in terms of food security and hygiene conditions. <strong>Method:</strong> The population of this descriptive study consists of canteens in public and private schools in Mersin, Mezitli. As 1 of the 31 available canteens refused participation, 30 canteens have been taken in to the study. Data has been collected over the course of a month between the 20th of October and 20th of November, 2015. Descriptive statistics have been used in data summarization and Mann Whitney U, Kruskall Wallis and Spearman correlation tests have been used in the subsequent analyses. <strong>Results:</strong> Of all the schools studies, 43.3% of the canteens were found in high schools and 83.3% of the canteens were in government schools. No precautions against pests had been taken in 60.0% of the canteens. The proportion of canteens with prohibited products was 30.0%. Staff work uniform was inappropriate in 56.7% of the canteens and personal protection usage was inappropriate in 96.7%. The proportion of canteens selling fresh fruit was 30.0% and selling dried fruit was 10.0%. The scores for the canteen physical conditions, the food hygiene score, the personnel hygiene score and the total scores were calculated. A positive correlation was determined between the number of school and canteen staff and the total score. Furthermore, data showed that an increase in the hygiene education received by canteen staff resulted in a marked amelioration of physical condition scores for the canteens. <strong>Conclusions:</strong> The data collected uncovered important deficiencies in the physical conditions and food and personnel hygiene issues in canteens which sold packaged and unpackaged foods. None of the canteens in the study provided all the necessary conditions for their students to develop healthy lifestyle behaviours. Canteens are suggested to eliminate their shortcomings, correct their wrong behaviors and further improve their correct applications.</p> |
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| ISSN: | 1304-1088 1304-1096 |