• Dt. Madhu Arora

This study was conducted to evaluate the level of knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) among food handlers concerning food safety issues in hospital kitchens. Ninety workers/food handlers , who served diet to patients in the hospitals were selected from the kitchens of the dietetics departments of three hospitals namely Govt. Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) Sector 32, Chandigarh, Multi Specialty Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16, Chandigarh( government) and Dayanand Medical college and Hospital (DMCH), Ludhiana( semi- government).Thirty subjects were randomly selected from each hospital. A self designed questionnaire was used to know the incidence and KAP of subjects according to their demographic profile and Chi- square test was applied to know the differences . Three questionnaires were used with 10 questions in each based on hygiene and sanitation , general knowledge and dietary practices and related to food safety, with multiple choice questions . the comparative responses were analyzed by calculating the percentage of positive responses by workers of each hospital. Mean scores were used to calculate the incidence of positive responses and chi-square to find statistical differences among all hospitals, stating their frequency and significance. The KAP study when related to the demographic profile of workers from all three hospitals (n=90) with regards to age showed that in 31—40 years age group 95% maximum workers responded positively to Knowledge , in .> 50 years age group 98% maximum responded to Attitude and in 41-50 years age group 92% maximum responded to Practices . All other demographic profiles of all three hospitals showed equally high incidences . The Chi-square test among differences in positive responses of three hospitals showed highly significant (p<0.001) results for from GMCH 32 Chandigarh, p<0.01 was significant in GMSH, Sector 16, Chandigarh (government) Chandigarh and p<0.05 significant by DMCH Ludhiana.

food safety, hospital kitchens, food handlers, knowledge, aptitude, practices

"Assessment of knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) among food handlers in catering units of Government and semi government hospitals.", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 5, page no.135-143, May-2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIRCH06014.pdf

"Assessment of knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) among food handlers in catering units of Government and semi government hospitals.", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 5, page no. pp135-143, May-2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIRCH06014.pdf