Food safety knowledge, attitude and practices of meat handlers in Khulna City, Bangladesh

The research was conducted to identify the present status of the food safety knowledge, attitude and practices of meat handlers in retail meat shops of Khulna City, Bangladesh. The research was performed through face-to-face interviews of randomly selected 65 meat handlers in six areas of Khulna City. Socio-demographic information of all respondents was collected. The illiteracy rate was 15.38%, while the majority (42.9%) of the respondents had secondary education. The highest proportion (43.07%) of meat handlers was low experienced in meat handling. Among the respondents, 58.46% were sellers, while no respondents had any training on butchery and food safety. All respondents worked at least three days a week and meat handling was the main occupation for all respondents. Most of the respondents (50.76%) had low media contact. The highest proportion (74.3%) of the respondents had medium (scores of 11 to 20) food safety knowledge. About 62.9% of the respondents had moderately favorable food safety attitude (scores of 28 to 54), while 60.0% of the respondents had medium food safety practices (scores of 15 to 28). The mean score of the food safety knowledge, attitude and practices was 18.65±3.81, 50.71±9.49 and 27.20±3.22, respectively. This study shows that there is an identified gap in knowledge and correct practices among meat handlers and that there is a need to raise awareness about food safety through education programs regarding food safety and safe food handling practices. These findings can help public health professionals in developing initiatives to improve food safety knowledge and practices of meat handlers and prevent foodborne diseases (FBDs). The government should pay special attention for improving knowledge and ensuring proper food safety practices to avoid the transmission of FBDs in Khulna City.