Food safety and hygiene practices: a comparative study of selected technical and vocational education and training and university hospitality schools in Kenya
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Date
2016-06
Authors
Wandolo, Monica Akinyi
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Food is a basic human need that plays a vital role in the sustenance of life. Its safety,
however, has become a major concern to the food industry given that the consumption of
contaminated food and water contributes to a myriad of health problems the world over.
Although food prepared and served at the restaurants may look clean and taste delicious,
it may have been contaminated by biological, chemical or physical hazards during the
preparation procedures from the source through to service. Food workshops (kitchens)
are viewed as the major sources of contaminations from poor sourcing and handling
practices which include undercooking, poor personal hygiene, and use of unclean
equipment, inappropriate storage and incorrect holding temperatures. Despite extensive
investment in training of food handling personnel, food-borne diseases remain a
contentious problem to both developed and developing nations. The general objective of
this study was to compare food safety and hygiene practices in training colleges to
ascertain their capacity in training food safety and hygiene practices. The specific
objectives included to compare the level of hygiene awareness in Technical Industrial
Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training (TVET) and University hospitality Schools, to
compare food-handling practices between TVET and University hospitality schools, to
establish their capacity in offering food safety and hygiene practices, to assess the
applicability of HACCP pre-requisites, to determine barriers to food safety and hygiene
practices in these institutions and more importantly, to determine the microbial load of
vegetables served from these institutions. Hospitality training encompasses appropriate
food handling procedures, careful selection of food source and use of correct equipment,
proper storage, proper cleaning procedures and proper management of food waste. All
University hospitality schools and food and beverage departments in TVET colleges were
considered as reliable sources of information. Accordingly, the target population included
both students and heads of these departments. The instruments used to collect data
included questionnaires, interviews, observation checklists, photographs and focus group
discussions. An observation checklist was used to assess good hygiene practices (GHP)
particularly in the training workshops. Both descriptive and inferential procedures were
used in data analysis and hypotheses. Chi-square was also used to test the independence
of various samples. Both paired t-test and one sample t-tests were used to test for equality
of various study variables in the two institution categories. All tests were performed at
95% confidence level . For microbial tests , Samples of spinach , coleslaw and mace͂ dione
of vegetables (n=36) from these institutions were analysed in the laboratory to determine
the microbial load, aerobic plate count and coliform. Finally, to determine the barriers to
food safety, a multiple regression analysis was undertaken. The study established that the
levels of awareness varied across the institutions. Out of the total number of students,
17% were not aware of HACCP principles. Institutions had no safety guidelines therefore
no operational standards were followed. The study revealed that institutions were not
adequately equipped, and the HACCP prerequisites were not used in most of the
institutions. Multiple regression analysis revealed that lack of resources posed a serious
threat to food safety and hygienic practices. The isolation of E.coli, salmonella and
pseudomonas confirmed that food safety in the institutions was compromised. This study
therefore recommended that HACCP food safety system be introduced in all hospitality
training institutions as a measure against food contamination.
Description
A research thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the award of the degree of doctor of philosophy in the school of Hospitality and Tourism Management of Kenyatta University June 2016