The Relationship between Food Handlers Personal Hygiene Practices and Cafetaria Sanitary / Jurnal Sains Kesihatan Malaysia

ABSTRACT

This case study was conducted to determine the level of personal hygiene among food handlers and its relationship to cafeteria hygiene Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). 75 respondents were involved in this study. The data shows that 32% of respondents are not vaccinated for typhoid while 49.3% do not acquire food handlers’ course certificate. The data also shows that 50.7% of the respondents are not Malaysian citizen. In term of personal hygiene practices, the findings show that 7 items are higher in percentage (70.3% – 87.5%) while another 7 items are lower in percentage (26.4% – 68%). The findings also show that 12 items related to cafeteria sanitary are conformed while 9 items are not. The statistical analysis shows that personal hygiene practices are significantly different (U = 472, p = 0.01) between Malaysian citizen food handlers and the non-Malaysian food handlers. The findings show that Malaysian citizen food-handlers practice better personal hygiene in comparison to non-Malaysian food-handlers. It is also observed that the relationship between is positive and statistically significant (χ2 = 6.432, p = 0.011), although the association between food-handlers personal hygiene and cafeteria sanitary is medium (Φ = 0.29). The findings imply that Malaysian citizen food handlers are better in personal hygiene practices and in promoting cafeteria sanitary in comparison to non-Malaysian food-handlers