Food Sanitation Management at Foodservice of Correctional Institutions in Korea

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate the equipment ratio of sanitary facility/equipment as well as the sanitary management performance level at foodservice of correctional institutions in Korea. For this purpose, a total of 47 questionnaires were distributed to dietitians working at correctional institutions during the period from March 20th to May 18th of 2008. A total of 38 questionnaires (response rate 81%) was analyzed using SPSS (windows ver. 14.0). The majority of the respondents were females (65.8%), 35 years or older (55.3%), with 7 years or longer experiences (65.8%), and with education level of university or higher (60.5%). Among the institutions, 39.5% had less than 500, 28.9% had 501 or more but less than 1,200, and 31.6% had 1,201 or more inmates. The equipment ratio of the sanitary facilities/equipment was 49.7%, which was relatively low. Most dietitians perceived 'limited availability of facilities and equipment' and 'the lack of support from financing department' as the major barriers in implementing a desirable sanitary system. On the other hand, perceived sanitary management performance was rated by the respondents as being between 2.55 to 4.50 (5-point Likert scale)-'Cleaning hands properly as specified' showed the lowest performance, whereas 'Sampling preserved meals by standard methodology' showed the highest. The results of this study suggest that a sanitary education program designed for inmate food handlers is needed for successful sanitary management.