Food safety knowledge among professional food handlers in Slovenia : the results of a nation-wide survey

Jevšnik Podlesnik, Mojca (author), Kirbiš, Andrej (author), Grebenc, Stanka (author), Jamnikar Ciglenečki, Urška (author), Ovca, Andrej (author), Kavčič, Matic (author)

The authors present and discuss the results of a nation-wide survey on food safety knowledge among professional food handlers in Slovenia. The data were collected via a telephone survey using a well-established questionnaire adapted to the Slovenian context. Altogether, 601 respondents from hotels, restaurants, catering, and confectionery units completed the questionnaire. To assess food safety knowledge among food handlers in both general and specific domains, three indexes (a General Knowledge Index, a Personal Knowledge Index, and a Temperature Knowledge Index) were created. Among them, the Temperature Knowledge Index revealed the largest gaps in knowledge. An insufficient transfer of food safety knowledge from managers and chefs to assistant chefs and kitchen assistants in establishments where more persons handle food was evident, while a course titled “Hygiene Minimum” of standardised training from the past still significantly contributes to food safety knowledge. The results suggest a need for improvement in the current system of food safety training courses for professional food handlers in Slovenia. The human factor in the food supply chain still has a significant role in ensuring food safety culture, and therefore must become a more important part of the food safety management system.

• Language: English
• Keywords: food safety, food handler, knowledge, hygiene
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: ZF - Faculty of Health Sciences; VF - Veterinary Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2023
• Number of pages: 12 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 12, iss. 14, art. 2735
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-152745
• UDC: 614.31:613
• ISSN on article: 2304-8158
• DOI: 10.3390/foods12142735
• COBISS.SI-ID: 159462915
• Publication date in RUL: 05.12.2023

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Foods
• Shortened title: Foods
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2304-8158
• COBISS.SI-ID: 512252472

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: varnost hrane, skrbnik hrane, znanje, higiena

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: P4-0092-2020
• Name: Zdravje živali, okolje in varna hrana

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: P3-0388-2022
• Name: Mehanizmi varovanja zdravja