Evaluation of the effect of person-in-charge (PIC) program on knowledge and practice change of food handlers in Dubai

- Three of the four groups showed an increase in knowledge after the training.
- There was no significant difference in practice between pre and post PIC intervention.
- Work experience has significant effect on food safety knowledge of PIC individuals but only before the training intervention.
- Education and professional training on food safety have significant effect on knowledge and practice.

The effect of Person in Charge (PIC) intervention on knowledge and practice of food handlers in Dubai was evaluated. Data were collected from 48 food establishments located in 4 zones in the city. Each establishment was visited twice in the assessment. In each visit, the same set of 12-knowledge questionnaire was asked and 20 observable practices evaluated. Hand and cutting board swabbing were also conducted to evaluate the personal hygiene of food handlers. Results showed that all the groups gained additional knowledge on food safety during training except group 4. Irrespective of knowledge gained, some of the trained PICs were unable to change food safety and handling practices at place of work. In group 1, the performance got worsen by 12%. Group 2 and 3 showed 4.3% and 10.3% improvement in food safety practices respectively. While, group 4 remained almost same as before the PIC intervention. With regards to cutting board swabbing, results showed that group 1 dropped by 16.6% while the remaining groups improved by 41.6%. In the case of hand swabbing all establishments in group 1 showed satisfactory results after training. Group 2, group 3 and group 4 showed 41.7% improvement. Statistics revealed that there was a significant improvement in the performance of food handlers in hand swabbing after the intervention with mean values of 60.4% and 85.5% before and after respectively. In the case of cutting board swabbing, there was a considerable improvement but not statistically significant at (p < 0.05) with mean values of 41.6% and 62.5% before and after respectively.