Introduction: Ensuring food safety during pregnancy is important for the prevention of foodborne diseases, especially listeriosis and toxoplasmosis, which have detrimental consequences not only for the pregnant woman but also for the foetus. Purpose: With the help of a questionnaire to determine the knowledge of pregnant women and mothers after childbirth and on the basis of the questionnaire, literature review and comparison of brochures to critically process findings and create useful brochures that will serve as a tool in midwifery practice. Methods: In the first part of the thesis, a descriptive method of work was used with a review of scientific and professional literature on the topic of ensuring food safety during pregnancy and after childbirth. The author obtained the literature with the help of databases: COBBIS, DiKUL, PubMed, CINAHL, and Google Scholar. Determining the knowledge and using it in handling food in pregnant women and mothers after childbirth was performed with an online survey questionnaire. The online survey questionnaire was completed in full by 426 women, of whom 145 women were pregnant, 191 non-pregnant and 90 were postpartum (up to 6 weeks postpartum). Results: Most pregnant women in our study have better knowledge of food safety during pregnancy than pregnant women in the foreign study. Most pregnant women do not prepare and consume foods that carry a risk of microbial infection during pregnancy. 77.9% of pregnant women are aware that they have an increased risk of infection with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii during pregnancy, while 34.5% of pregnant women do not know whether they have an increased risk of infection with the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes during pregnancy. Most women do not measure the temperature in the home refrigerator and defrost frozen food in an inappropriate way, most often on the kitchen counter at room temperature. 83.3% of mothers after childbirth know that unused heated breast milk should be discarded. Discussion and conclusion: Women should be further informed about ensuring food safety in the home environment. Above all, consideration should be given to how graduated midwives could raise awareness and provide relevant information on ensuring food safety for pregnant women and mothers after childbirth.
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