The Role of personal and premises hygiene in the assuage of food safety in selected hotels within Eldoret town

Abstract

In the last two to three years there have been reported cases of Cholera and other outbreaks related to food which necessitates the need to find out if personal hygiene may have a role to play in all these cases. Consequently, this study was carried out in order to investigate the food handlers’ practice of food safety management with respect to personal hygiene, temperature control, prevention of cross contamination, purchasing and storage, food safety training and rules, and kitchen physical features. The study adopted both descriptive and explanatory research designs. Twelve conventional hotels were purposively selected and all 106 food handlers in the hotels were recruited into the study. Data was collected by use of structured questionnaires, interviews and observation. Quantitative data was analyzed with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 and excel. Pearson Chi-square test of independence and Pearson Correlation analysis were performed to test association between the various variables under study. Content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data and results presented in narrative form. The results of the study have been discussed as relates to personal hygiene, temperature control, cross contamination, purchase and storage, following of food safety rules and physical appearance of food safety premises. Conclusions and recommendations have been drawn as pertains to this study.