Public perception of food handling practices and food safety in Turkey

Author: Arzu Cagri-Mehmetoglu

Received 20 January 2009, accepted 11 April 2009.

Abstract

In response to the high risk of foodborne illness from home-prepared foods in Turkey, a total of 1224 in-person interviews were conducted to determine consumer knowledge of proper food handling and consumer food purchasing behavior. According to the findings, only 2% of the respondents never washed their hands after handling raw meat and 11% were unconcerned about keeping raw meat or fish away from salad ingredients during food preparation. Respondents in different age groups or respondents in different income groups showed similar attitudes towards washing hands and keeping raw meat or fish separate from salad ingredients. However, data analysis revealed that females were significantly more cautious than males about hand washing and safe food handling (p < 0.05). The results also indicated that 44% of respondents always and 50% of them sometimes reheated leftovers before eating. In addition, 14% of those surveyed sometimes purchased unlabeled and/or unpackaged dairy or meat products at markets. Respondents with high educational levels were significantly more careful about not purchasing these products (p <0.05). The findings showed that 77% of respondents purchased milk from supermarkets, while the remainder indicated that they obtained milk from street vendors or directly from farms (p < 0.05). Younger and more educated people or people with higher income purchase significantly more milk from supermarkets, as compared to older, less educated people or respondents with lower income (p < 0.05). Females and highly educated individuals demonstrated greater knowledge about food handling and food safety and safe food handling practices indicating that consumer education in Turkey should focus on males and those who are less educated.

Key words: Food safety, food handling practices.