Evaluation of Foodservice Employees' Sanitary Performance and Sanitary Education in Middle and High Schools in Seoul

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to evaluate the sanitary performance and education of middle and high school foodservice employees in Seoul, South Korea in order to ensure the foodservice safety and identify why some employees cannot apply learned knowledge in real work situations. Subjects consisted of 217 school foodservice employees who attended a regular sanitary education program under the auspices of the Seoul Gangdong and Gangseo district offices. The sanitary performance was assessed with 5 dimensions (personal hygiene, ingredient control, process control, safety management and sanitary education), and was self-evaluated using a Likert 5 point scale. The data were analyzed using the SPSSWIN Version 12.0 package. The main results of the study showed that according to the general characteristics of middle and high school foodservice employees, 98.2% of respondents were women, and 64.1% of them aged 40-49. A total mean score of 5 items of sanitary performance for middle and high school employees was 4.74. Ingredient control field score was 4.83, process control 4.80 and personal hygiene 4.74. In contrast, the sanitary education field score was 4.56, significantly lower than the total mean score. Safety management field score was 4.71. Verbal education was the main method performed as a sanitary education in schools.