Effects of health educational and participatory consumer group interventions in improving food handling practices in regional director of health services area Kalutara, Sri Lanka: non-randomized controlled community trial
Abstract Introduction Safe and nutritious food is the key to sustaining life and promoting good health. Unsafe food creates a vicious cycle of disease and malnutrition, particularly affecting infants, young children, the elderly, and the sick. Methods The study consisted of two phases, a descriptive...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2024-04-01
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| Series: | BMC Public Health |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-18481-2 |
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| author | Lasantha Krishan Hirimuthugoda Padmal De Silva Palitha Abeykoon |
| author_facet | Lasantha Krishan Hirimuthugoda Padmal De Silva Palitha Abeykoon |
| author_sort | Lasantha Krishan Hirimuthugoda |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Introduction Safe and nutritious food is the key to sustaining life and promoting good health. Unsafe food creates a vicious cycle of disease and malnutrition, particularly affecting infants, young children, the elderly, and the sick. Methods The study consisted of two phases, a descriptive cross-sectional study, and an intervention study. Both studies were conducted in the Regional Director of Health Services area, Kalutara, Sri Lanka. The descriptive cross-sectional study [food handlers (n = 904), food establishments (n = 421)] was conducted with the objective of determining factors associated with food handling practices among food handlers and in food establishments. The interventional study was a three-arm non-randomized controlled community trial (n = 50 per arm) with interventions of a participatory consumer group, educational package group, and control group. Results The food establishments assessment tool (FEAT) contained 11 domains including 75 items with more than a hundred assessment points with a guide to conduct an assessment of food handling. The descriptive cross-sectional study found that food handlers’ knowledge of food handling practices of storing milk, fish, and meat and fast-food items containing fish and meat was very poor (96.6%). Visibility of the last place of processing inside the food establishments to consumers was inadequate (19.2%) and the absence of the above-mentioned factor was significantly associated with an unsatisfactory level of food handling score in food establishments (p = 0.03). The unsatisfactory level of food handling was significantly higher among food establishments with non-personal ownership (p = 0.005), a low number of notices issued by legal authorities (p = 0.02), dereliction of duty by owners/managers on supervising (p < 0.001) and lack of medical certification to food handlers (p < 0.0001). Participatory consumer group intervention and educational package interventions were effective in improving food handling practices in food establishments and among food handlers (p < 0.0001). Two independent sample analysis using the Mann–Whitney U test showed, the best improvement in food handling practices was by participatory consumer group intervention (p < 0.0001) and the second was educational package intervention (p < 0.0001). Conclusions Knowledge and practices of food handling among participants were poor. A participatory consumer group is more effective than an educational package on improving food handling practices both among food handlers and in food establishments. |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1471-2458 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T12:35:25Z |
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| spelling | doaj.art-bb5c90592a514ebba1752a2aac1667ce2024-04-07T11:33:19ZengBMCBMC Public Health1471-24582024-04-0124111510.1186/s12889-024-18481-2Effects of health educational and participatory consumer group interventions in improving food handling practices in regional director of health services area Kalutara, Sri Lanka: non-randomized controlled community trialLasantha Krishan Hirimuthugoda0Padmal De Silva1Palitha Abeykoon2Illinois Institute of TechnologyNational Institute of Health Sciences, Ministry of HealthWorld Health Organization – Country OfficeAbstract Introduction Safe and nutritious food is the key to sustaining life and promoting good health. Unsafe food creates a vicious cycle of disease and malnutrition, particularly affecting infants, young children, the elderly, and the sick. Methods The study consisted of two phases, a descriptive cross-sectional study, and an intervention study. Both studies were conducted in the Regional Director of Health Services area, Kalutara, Sri Lanka. The descriptive cross-sectional study [food handlers (n = 904), food establishments (n = 421)] was conducted with the objective of determining factors associated with food handling practices among food handlers and in food establishments. The interventional study was a three-arm non-randomized controlled community trial (n = 50 per arm) with interventions of a participatory consumer group, educational package group, and control group. Results The food establishments assessment tool (FEAT) contained 11 domains including 75 items with more than a hundred assessment points with a guide to conduct an assessment of food handling. The descriptive cross-sectional study found that food handlers’ knowledge of food handling practices of storing milk, fish, and meat and fast-food items containing fish and meat was very poor (96.6%). Visibility of the last place of processing inside the food establishments to consumers was inadequate (19.2%) and the absence of the above-mentioned factor was significantly associated with an unsatisfactory level of food handling score in food establishments (p = 0.03). The unsatisfactory level of food handling was significantly higher among food establishments with non-personal ownership (p = 0.005), a low number of notices issued by legal authorities (p = 0.02), dereliction of duty by owners/managers on supervising (p < 0.001) and lack of medical certification to food handlers (p < 0.0001). Participatory consumer group intervention and educational package interventions were effective in improving food handling practices in food establishments and among food handlers (p < 0.0001). Two independent sample analysis using the Mann–Whitney U test showed, the best improvement in food handling practices was by participatory consumer group intervention (p < 0.0001) and the second was educational package intervention (p < 0.0001). Conclusions Knowledge and practices of food handling among participants were poor. A participatory consumer group is more effective than an educational package on improving food handling practices both among food handlers and in food establishments.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-18481-2Food regulationsFood handlersFood handling practicesFood establishmentsConsumer groupsEducational packages |
| spellingShingle | Lasantha Krishan Hirimuthugoda Padmal De Silva Palitha Abeykoon Effects of health educational and participatory consumer group interventions in improving food handling practices in regional director of health services area Kalutara, Sri Lanka: non-randomized controlled community trial BMC Public Health Food regulations Food handlers Food handling practices Food establishments Consumer groups Educational packages |
| title | Effects of health educational and participatory consumer group interventions in improving food handling practices in regional director of health services area Kalutara, Sri Lanka: non-randomized controlled community trial |
| title_full | Effects of health educational and participatory consumer group interventions in improving food handling practices in regional director of health services area Kalutara, Sri Lanka: non-randomized controlled community trial |
| title_fullStr | Effects of health educational and participatory consumer group interventions in improving food handling practices in regional director of health services area Kalutara, Sri Lanka: non-randomized controlled community trial |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effects of health educational and participatory consumer group interventions in improving food handling practices in regional director of health services area Kalutara, Sri Lanka: non-randomized controlled community trial |
| title_short | Effects of health educational and participatory consumer group interventions in improving food handling practices in regional director of health services area Kalutara, Sri Lanka: non-randomized controlled community trial |
| title_sort | effects of health educational and participatory consumer group interventions in improving food handling practices in regional director of health services area kalutara sri lanka non randomized controlled community trial |
| topic | Food regulations Food handlers Food handling practices Food establishments Consumer groups Educational packages |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-18481-2 |
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