ABSTRACT
Background: Food poisoning and diseases caused by food are pressing problems in Viet Nam.\r\n', u'Objectives: To contribute towards discovering suitable approaches for preventing food poisoning. \r\n', u'Subjects and methods: A cross sectional study was carried out in 2005 to assess the practice of food safety of 423 housewives in Bavi district, Hatay province. \r\n', u'Results:Almost all of them did not purchase tainted foods. Two thirds of them considered and looked for information on the label when buying tinned or packed foods. 52.2% of subjects reheated cooked foods before eating them. 87.2% of housewives washed their hands before they prepared food for their household. More than 86% of the subjects washed vegetables 3 times before cooking. Percentage of housewives who soak vegetables properly is 51.8%. Chopping board was used for processing both cooked and fresh foods by 55.6%. For containing foods, tools were used separately for cooked and un-cooked food by 98.6%. For preserving foods, dish-covers were used by 74.9%, lids by 72.8%, fridge by 1 % while 1.25% was not preserved by any tools. As for sources of water, deep well accounted for 71.6% while water well and rain water accounted for 18% and 9%, respectively. 88.7% of households have the foundation of kitchen dried. 68.6% of households did not have rubbish bins and 14.7% have daily emptied ones. \r\n', u'Conclusions: Housewives had initial improvements in good practice of food hygiene.\r\n', u'