The Impact of a Food Hygiene Training Program on Foodservice Staff in Saudi Arabian Hospitals

Introduction: Foodservice departments in hospitals are required to provide patients with meals prepared under strict hygiene conditions because patients have a weakened immune system. Foodservices staff must have adequate hygiene training and sufficient knowledge about good practices. Lack of training may cause cases of food poisoning which could have serious consequences for patients who are already ill. In Saudi Arabia, although training programs for foodservice staff is still limited, the Ministry of Health intends to implement HACCP systems in hospitals. It is likely that the current level of knowledge will need to be augmented before HACCP can be successfully implemented in all hospitals.

Purpose: The main aim was to assess the knowledge, practices and attitude of hospital food handlers in Riyadh, to develop a bespoke training programme and to evaluate the effectiveness of this training.

Methods: The study was a longitudinal study which assessed the staff knowledge at the pre-training stage by using a multiple choice questionnaire. This data was analyzed to identify the specific deficits in food safety knowledge and practices of staff and the training program was developed according to the weak points. After delivering the training program participants were reassessed. The sample comprised 129 food handlers in 3 large hospitals in Riyadh. The questionnaire contained 32 questions and was administered in Arabic, English, Bengali and Urdu languages. All analyses were performed by using SPSS software (version 18)

Results: Approximately 60% of participants were male with an average age of 25 years. Over 50% were educated only to the level of elementary school. The mean knowledge score before attending the session was poor (36%) but increased significantly after attending the training (75%, P < 0.001). Self-reported practices and attitude were also assessed and these too improved significantly after the training (P < 0.001).

Significance: This data suggests that food service handlers in Saudi Arabian hospitals respond well to bespoke hygiene training. Such training can be used to support the Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia when implementing HACCP in hospitals.