The determination of food hygiene knowledge levels of emplooyes in catering industry

The aim of this study was to measure the food hygiene knowledge levels of the foodhandlers in ready-made food factories in Van province. For this purpose, a questionnaire was applied to 104 foodhandlers in 12 food factories, which consisted of 90 men and 14 women. The questionnaire used in the study consisted of three sections: demographic information, the things to be done to prevent food poisoning and the questions prepared to measure the level of knowledge of food hygiene. As a result of the study, it was determined that the personnel working in ready-made food factories in Van were generally composed of males, the level of formal education was higher in females, the lower was in males, the females were younger than males, and the males had more work experience. It was found that the majority of the respondents gave correct answers to the questions given for measuring the level of knowledge of food hygiene and this was largely due to the hygiene training of the employees. It was seen that the level of formal education of the studies affected the correct answers to the questionnaire questions. According to the data obtained from the study, it is determined that all of the employees in this type of food establishments should receive hygiene education and increasing the level of formal education will positively affect the knowledge of food hygiene. In addition, it was concluded that food hygiene training should be provided by trainers trained in food hygiene and that food safety systems such as HACCP in food factories should be implemented well. It is concluded that the implementation of the systems HACCP in food factory will be good. It has been found that food hygiene knowledge levels of food factory workers are not completely sufficient and therefore continuous and frequent supervision of such enterprises by official authorities is necessary to prevent foodborne diseases. Keywords: Food factory, Food workers, Hygiene