PERSONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL HYGIENE MEASURES ON FOOD SAFETY COMPLIANCE IN SELECTED PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN KENYA
PERSONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL HYGIENE MEASURES ON FOOD SAFETY COMPLIANCE IN SELECTED PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN KENYA
Bennetah M. Wafukho - School of Tourism, Hospitality and Events Management, department of Hospitality Management, Moi University, Kenya
Dorothy Rotich - Senior Lecturer School of Tourism, Hospitality and Events Management, department of Hospitality Management, Moi University, Kenya
Isabella Mapelu Cheloti - Senior Lecturer School of Tourism, Hospitality and Events Management, department of Hospitality Management, Moi University, Kenya
ABSTRACT
Inadequate compliance with food safety measures such the adoption of local and international standards has resulted in occasional outbreaks of food borne related diseases like cholera, dysentery and typhoid among others in Kenya. Hygiene measures such as personal hygiene and environmental hygiene practices are used to ensure compliance to safe food production and service. The main purpose of this study was to assess hygiene measures on food safety compliance of food production and service in selected public universities in Nairobi, Kenya. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of personal and environmental hygiene measures on food safety compliance in selected public universities in Nairobi, Kenya. University of Nairobi, Technical University of Kenya and Co-operative University of Kenya were purposively selected. Descriptive and explanatory research designs were used to guide the study. The target population was 95 food handlers and 21 departmental managers. The entire census of the target population was enrolled in the research. Self-administered questionnaires and interview schedule was used to collect primary data from food handlers and senior managers respectively. In addition observation checklist was used to collect primary data. Cronbach’s alpha analysis for internal consistency found that data collection instruments were reliable. Multiple Linear regression results show that there exists a significant positive relationship between personal hygiene measures (r= 0. 679, p=0.02<0.05, t=6.304) and environmental hygiene measures (r= 0.433, p=0.001<0.05, t=7.882). The findings demonstrated that food interventions adopted have significantly improved compliance of food production and services. The study concludes that although the public universities’ catering staff have adopted personal hygiene measures and with a high awareness of food safety measures, their compliance with hygiene practices was not commensurate. The study recommends that the public universities’ catering outlets should develop internal policies and standard operating procedures that will help the catering staff comply with food safety measures.
