Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate relationships among food safety training, knowledge, and practices of school food service employees. A questionnaire that identified employees' food safety training experience, knowledge, and practices was developed based on a review of literature. A total of 341 Korean school food service employees participated in the survey; the final usable responses were 293 (a response rate: 86%). Statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS for Windows (version 10). Most of the respondents (> 86%) took training sessions on 'proper hand washing' and 'proper food storage temperatures', whereas less than 60% had training on 'monitoring procedures and corrective actions at critical control points'. The mean score of their food safety knowledge was 8.02 out of 11. The majority of the employees knew correctly 'potentially hazardous foods (93.2%)' and 'diseases and symptoms with which they are excluded from working (87.0%)'; less than 50% chose a correct answer for 'sanitizing food contact surfaces.' A chi-square analysis revealed that the employees' actual knowledge did not differ significantly by whether they had food safety training (at the level of alpha = 0.01), except one topic "diseases and symptoms with which they are excluded from working." Their self-reported practice scores were rated as 2.98 - 3.39 based on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1-not at all, 5-always). Employees' food safety training should be conducted continuously and repetitively to improve the effectiveness of the training.

• Keywords: school food service employees; food safety training; knowledge; practices