engleski

Consumers’ awareness of their role in food hygiene practice after the purchase of food

Introduction: After the purchase of food, consumers also have a great responsibility. Few studies conducted outside Croatia have demonstrated consumers’ perception, awareness and concerns about food safety and food hygiene practice. The aim of this paper was to study Croatian and foreign consumers’ awareness about their role in food hygiene practice after the purchase. Materials and methods: As a part of students’ project, consumers’ knowledge and awareness were evaluated through an online questionnaire validated on 13 Croatian participants. The questionnaire was translated into English and German to include foreign participants. The survey was conducted for 10 days (2018). The questionnaire contained 6 questions about food hygiene practice and sociodemographic characteristics of the participants. Microsoft Excell was used as a statistic tool. Results: 1550 questionnaires were collected of which 1394 Croatian (89.9 %) and 156 foreign consumers (10.1 %) (31 countries). Among Croatians, there were 60.1% younger than 25 and 73.6% women. Among foreign consumers there were 54.5% younger than 25 and 69.2% women. Croatian consumers leave thermally prepared food to cool at room temperature 1-2 hours before putting it in a refrigerator (12.0%), put it immediately (40.6%) or leave more than 2 hours at room temperature (35.5%). Foreign consumers put it immediately (32.1%), put within 1-2 hours (19.2%) or leave more than 2 hours at room temperature (35.9%). Among Croatians, it is observed that men (p=0.005), individuals under the age of 25 (p=0.003) and people living alone and/or divorced (p=0.008) put the food in the refrigerator immediately after the lunch. 17.6% of Croatians and 19.2% of foreigners defrost food in the refrigerator, while 50.8% Croatian and 38.5% foreign consumers defrost food on countertops at room temperature. Additionally, Croatian women have better practice in food defrosting, in refrigerator, (p=0.004) in contrast to men. Conclusion: According to results, 2/3 of Croatians have adequate hygiene practice in food handling during food preparation, with emphasis on younger men and people living alone. Defrosting practice is in general inadequate, even though women have better practice in food defrosting. Similar results are obtained with foreign consumers. The consumers are mostly aware of their role in the food hygiene practice, but it is desirable to work more on informing of consumers.

consumer, hygienic practice, food safety

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