Food safety knowledge among food service staff in hospitals in Jordan

- Overall food safety knowledge of food service staff in hospitals in Jordan is fair.
- Respondents from public sector had lower food safety knowledge than private sector.
- Food workers had lower food safety knowledge than dietitians.
- Food safety education programs are needed for food service staff in hospitals.

This study aimed to measure food safety knowledge among food service staff in hospitals in Jordan. A total of 532 food service personal (dietitians, cooks and food workers) from 37 hospitals (public, private, and university hospitals) were conveniently selected to participate in this cross sectional study. The participants completed a questionnaire composed of two parts (general characteristics and food safety knowledge). The overall food safety knowledge of food service staff is fair with a mean score of 56.3 out of 90 points (62.5%). Respondents had sufficient knowledge on “cross contamination prevention and sanitation” aspect, while they had very poor to good knowledge on “foodborne pathogens and related symptoms and illnesses”, “safe storage, thawing, cooking, holding and reheating of the foods”, “health problems that would affect food safety” and “personal hygiene” aspects. There were no significant associations between the total food safety knowledge score and age, educational level, marital status, income, experience, nature of work and attending course(s) on food safety. Respondents from public hospitals and who believed that HACCP is not important for food safety had significantly lower food safety knowledge score than those from private sector (OR: 3.3, CI: 1.76-6.01) and those who believed that HACCP is important (OR: 3, CI: 1.64-5.36), respectively. Food workers and respondents who have experience ≤48 months had significantly lower food safety knowledge score than dietitians (OR: 2.6, CI: 1.33-5.2) and those who have experience > 48 months (OR: 1.9, CI: 1.06-3.51), respectively. There is an urgent need for tailored food safety education and training programs that improve food safety knowledge of food service staff in hospitals in Jordan.