A Study to Assess Basic Food Safety Knowledge among University Students

Abstract

Background: University students who visit off - campus university cafeterias during their academic life may lack some basic food safety knowledge. Study Aim: To evaluate university students’ basic knowledge of food safety in off - campus cafeterias. To explore whether the knowledge reported was influenced by the students’ educational background s . Objects and Methods: Students from three different universities in Saudi Arabia were included. University A represented medical majors, University B represented a mix of both majors medical and non-medical, and University C represented only non- medical majors. Data Collection: An electronic questionnaire was circulated among 500 university students to evaluate their knowledge of food safety. The questionnaire had three main sections covering the cafeteria’s location as a food serving area, staff hygiene skills, and food preparation standards. The 5-point Likert scale consists of the following points: yes, maybe, no, it does not matter, I do not know. Only a “ yes ” answer indicated a positive response and proper awareness of the subject. Results : A total of 408 students participated, and the results showed significant differences in student knowledge between the three universities. In fact, University A’s students had better overall knowledge than University C’s students (0.001 < P). However, there was no significant difference between University A’s and University B’s students. The positive responses for the first part of the questionnaire which focused on off-campus cafeteria location, for 18 statements were from 26% to 90.4%. The positive responses for the second part of the questionnaire that focused on staff skills, for 8 statements were from 54.4% to 87.3%. Finally, the positive responses for the third part of the questionnaire which focused on food preparation, for 9 statements were 54.4% to 87.3%. Conclusion : Based on the overall comparison among universities, University A’s students have more knowledge in food safety in comparison to University C’s. University B’s students showed no significant difference with the latter two universities. The overall results suggest that students’ educational backgrounds can contribute effectively to the general knowledge of food safety.