Personal Hygiene and Self-Reported Handwashing Practices among Food Handlers of a Medical College in Delhi

Introduction: Food handlers play a major role in ensuring food safety as mishandling and disregard for personal hygiene on their part may result in food borne- illness outbreaks. Methodology: Cross sectional observational study involving about 44 food handlers presently working were included. With structured proforma, details of socio- demographic data and self reported personal hygiene and handwashing practices were carried out. Results: Majority of the study subjects had satisfactory or good personal hygiene. Significantly greater number of study subjects working as servers or helpers had a better status of hygiene as compared to the cooks. Personal income was significantly associated with the status of personal hygiene of the study subjects. Although majority of them were using soap for handwashing after defecation and micturition but only few were using it at the workplace. Although all of them were brushing/ cleaning their teeth, 50% were doing it only once in a day. Majority of them were taking bath in summers while 9% were not taking bath in winters. Majority of them were trimming their nails on a regular basis while 2.3% didn’t cut their nails at all. Majority of them used to take medicine during diarrhea while only 2.3% used to take leave from work during illness. Most of them reported using towel to wipe the sweat. Most of them either covered their mouth or turned their face away from food while coughing/ sneezing. While 56.8% reported that they chased the stray animal, 20.4% said that animals never entered the premises, 2.3% had the habit of offering food to them. Conclusion: There is a lot of scope for improving the standards of personal hygiene practices of food handlers. Important personal hygiene habits that help in prevention of contamination of food should be included in the content of health education sessions.