Asia Pacific Environmental and Occupational Health Journal

Objective: Food and occupational safety and proper meat handling are some of the strategies that can be used to reduce economic loses in the meat industry. Public health can also be improved if the strategies are carefully adhered to. Education of food handlers is a crucial line of defense in the prevention of food borne illnesses. An intervention program was conducted to improve Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) of abattoir workers on personal hygiene and good practices.

Method:  An intervention program was conducted to improve Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) of abattoir workers on personal hygiene and good practices. During the intervention, presentation on good hygienic practices and safety were conducted. Data on the KAP scores of the workers were collected in pre and post intervention phases. Scores for the pre and post intervention were then compared to determine the effectiveness of the intervention.

Result: Thirty-four percent (34%) of the workers that participated in the intervention were within the age of 31-40 while 19% in the range of 51-60 years. The demographic data showed that all of the workers involved in the study were male. Training of worker on meat cutting, meat storage and personal hygiene have improved significantly (p=0.010, 0.010 and 0.001) after the intervention. The mean scores for KAP before the intervention were 7.1±1.87, 4.3±0.73 and 5.5±1.01 respectively. After the intervention the scores were 9.4±2.15, 4.7±0.48 and 5.8±0.93 respectively. The total mean KAP before the intervention was 16.9±2.38 compared to 19.9±2.83. Comparison of KAP score in pre and post intervention phases indicated significant difference in knowledge (p=0.000) and attitude (0.025) but no significant difference was observed in practice scores (p=0.115) based on the paired t-test analysis. However, the total KAP scores for pre and post intervention were observed to have a significant difference (p=0.000) which indicated an improvement in the KAP score after the intervention.