Knowledge of Health Volunteers in the Damavand District on Food Safety: A Study Based on the World Health Organization Manual

Abstract

Introduction: Food borne illnesses are usually infectious or toxic in nature and caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances entering the body through contaminated food or water. Unsafe food causes more than 200 diseases - ranging from diarrhea to cancers. Food safety is a public health priority. The aim of present study was determine level of health communicators' knowledge about food safety in Damavand city that was performed according to the World Health Organization guide. Methods: This study is a descriptive analysis of the target a group of health Volunteers in Damavand depended to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. 109 persons were enrolled with s awareness, scarification and consent of the census. Tools for data collection was a questionnaire consisting of 13 questions on demographic characteristics and 24 questions about food safety according to WHO’s guide. Data was analyzed with SPSS-18 software and statistical analysis includes one-way ANOVA, t-test and spearman correlation. Results: The mean age of participant was 44.75 ± 9.98 years. Average score of awareness of food safety was 35.87 ±6.22 and for awareness was 77 (71%). No significant relationships was observed between of awareness and marital status, age, education, occupation and education of wife was not significant relationships (p>0/05). Conclusion: In some safety food items the level of knowledge in some safety food items was good, in other one, such as food storage, transmission of microbes, cooking temperature for meat there was low awareness. In this respect, information, education programs to raise awareness of the health status for health volunteers is recommende