Self-reporting of Food Handlers in Food Production and Distribution Centers in Sanandaj City, Iran

Abstract

One of the ways to get thorough knowledge to food handlers is self-reporting. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare self-reporting and routine inspection of Environmental Health Inspectors (EHIs) on elimination of health defects in food production and distribution centers. This was a case-control study in which a questionnaire checklist was designed based on Article 13, an Iranian law for inspecting the food production and distribution centers. The questionnaire consisted of five parts including personal, building, tools, transportation, and food hygiene. It was distributed among 45 case and control groups for six months. The case group included the food handlers filling up the checklists monthly according to their place conditions, whereas, the control group included EHIs. After data collection, it was analyzed by means of SPSS (Ver.19), K2 and Mann Whitney tests. Research found significant differences in mean of sanitation conditions in both groups with respect to the food centers with checklist at the end of program in personal hygiene (P=.011), food hygiene (P=.008) and transport hygiene of food (P=.050). Moreover, it was found that the mean differences in place sanitation conditions compliance with the questionnaire at the end of the study was statistically significant in both case and control groups except in the case of building hygiene and food hygiene. This research work proved that self-reporting of food handlers can promote different aspects of sanitation criteria in their workshops. However, it had no significant effect on building and food hygiene.