A survey on the hygienic state of the school canteens and dining halls and hygiene knowledge levels of staff in the district of Süleymanpaşa, Tekirdağ

This study was carried out in order to have information about the hygiene status of the school canteens and food halls and the hygienic knowledge levels of the employees in Süleymanpaşa province of Tekirdağ. For this purpose, the hygienic conditions of various surfaces were examined in the preparation sections of the canteen and dining hall using colour hygiene test strip. When the hygiene knowledge level of the working personnel was determined, the answers given by the questionnaire of 29 questions were guiding. Colour hygiene test strip was used in a total of 65 establishments including 48 canteens and 17 dining halls. With this strip, the hygienic conditions of 90 surfaces such as preparation board, chopping board, personnel hand etc. were determined. As a result of the test, 23 surfaces (25.56%) were clean and 67 (74.44%) surfaces were dirty. In the questionnaire survey, a total of 200 employees, 120 canteen and 80 dining hall staff, were asked to answer the questionnaire. According to the survey results it is understood that, 77.5% of the staff are female, 9% are working more than ten years, 90% have personal hygiene education certificate, 99% frequently wash their hands, 2.5% does not use work clothes. 126 personnel (63%) reported that chopping boards were not wooden, 119 (59.5%) personnel reported that bins were covered, and 167 (83.5%) personnel had hot water equipment. In addition, all of the personnel participating in the operation reported that the surfaces were easy to clean as well as that they were cleaning the equipment on a daily basis, such as a toaster.