The purpose of this research was to investigate the level of food safety knowledge, attitudes
and food handling practices of employees in hospitals in the Capricorn District Municipality
(CDM), Limpopo Province, South Africa. Purposeful sampling was followed to sample 210
respondents from nine hospitals in CDM. Respondents were individuals who are 18 years or
more, employed in these hospitals and are involved in the food handling duties. Data collection
was done by means of questionnaires and interviews. The results showed that 99% and 70% of
the food handlers are black females and are health care staffs. Up to 71% have not attended
any food safety-training course. Many food handlers are not knowledgeable about HACCP and
the correct temperature and duration for receiving and storing temperature controlled for safety
(TCS) foods respectively. The vast majority of food handlers are not knowledgeable on
minimum internal cooking temperature for poultry, seafood, egg and the best way of thawing
of frozen meat. The majority of food handlers do not know that Salmonella is the main
foodborne bacteria pathogen mostly associated with poultry products and that food borne
bacteria will grow quickly in food at a temperature of 37 ˚C. The majority of food handlers
possess adequate food safety knowledge regarding the safe food handling practices and the
prevention of contamination. Respondents with higher academic qualifications do not possess
more food safety knowledge than those with lower academic qualifications. Food handlers who
are health care staff have less food safety knowledge when compared to food service managers,
food service supervisors and chefs. / Business Management / M.A. (Consumer Science)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/24840 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Teffo, Lesiba Augustine |
| Contributors | Tabit, Frederick Tawi |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | 1 online resource (xi, 98 pages) : illustrations (some color), maps |
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