Abstract

The chances of food contamination largely depend on the health status of food handlers & their hygiene behaviors and practices. Often these food handlers are being appointed without proper health examination. Hence community based cross-sectional study was conducted on randomly selected 160 food handlers of both sex to assess health status of food handlers working in food establishment nearby a medical institute. Stool examination and nail culture was also done.

There was no registration of these food establishments. Most of the food handlers were young in age, mostly cooks (35.62 %) and literate (63.13 %). Point prevalence of morbidity was 54 (33.75%) and period prevalence 26.25 %. 21.87 % were anemic. Microbial positivity rate for their stool & nail culture was 97 percent.

Registration of all food establishments should be mandatory. Pre-placement and periodical medical checkup is the key to improve health status of food handlers for better food safety.

 

Key Words: Food handlers, personal hygiene, food safety, health status, stool & nail culture

 

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