A STUDY ON THE DOMESTIC FOOD HYGIENE PRACTICES IN A RURAL AREA OF THRISSUR DISTRICT, KERALA Bablu Raphael, Navya CJ, Catherine Nisha, Saju CR [ babluraphael@gmail.com] Department of Community Medicine, Amala Institute of medical sciences, Thrissur, Kerala Unsafe food has been a human health problem since history was first recorded It has been estimated that each year 1.8 million people die as a result of diarrhoeal diseases and most of these cases can be attributed to contaminated food or water1 Food contamination and cross contamination occur due to unsatisfactory environmental conditions, poor personal hygiene, poor quality and insufficient water supplies, unhygienic preparation, storage and feeding of foods.2,3 In view of the public health importance of the problem, the World Health Organization has adopted ‘Food Safety’ as the World Health Day Theme for the year 2015 INTRODUC TION OBJECTIVE To assess the food hygiene practices of house hold food handlers in a rural area in Thrissur district of Kerala METHODOLOGY Study design : Community based cross-sectional study Study setting : Adat Panchayat of Thrissur district Sample size : 80 Study period : November 2014- April 2015 Study population : Household food handlers Study tool : A structured questionnaire based on the WHO Food Safety Manual Data analysis : SPSS software version 16 RESULTS Mean age of the study population was 48.5 ± 12.5 years Food hygiene practices Demographic characteristics of the study population Table .1 Conditions of sanitation pertaining to food Water source Own well Panchayat well Panchayat pipe 62 (77.5%) 6 (7.5 %) 12 (15 %) Boiling drinking water Yes No 66 (82.5 %) 14 (17.5 %) Adding un-boiled water to boiled drinking water Keeping drinking water covered 76 (95 %) 4 (5 %) Fig.4a Food hygiene practices Fig.4b Food hygiene practices Regular (daily) washing of the utensil in which drinking water is kept Yes No 74 (92.5%) 6 (7.5 %) Touching drinking water in the pot with fingers while collecting 23 (28.75 %) 57 (71.25 %) Allowing pets in the kitchen 8 (10 %) 72 (90 %) Have waste basket in the kitchen 47 (58.75%) 33 (41.25%) Type of waste basket [n =47] Uncovered Covered Covered and foot operated 15 (31.9%) 23 (48.9%) 9 (19.1%) Fig.4c Food hygiene practices P<0.05 In the present study, 71% of the respondents used hygienic methods to draw drinking water. In a study done by Jasvir Kaur in Chandigarh, this was 50% In the present study, 46% had the habit of adequate hand washing. In a study conducted by Mini Seth in Baroda, this was only 23% In our study, 49% used separate utensils for preparing raw and cooked food, while this was 58% in a study done in Vietnam In the present study, only 9% of the respondents used to refrigerate left over cooked food within two hours of cooking. This is much lower than the 40% reported by R.V. Sudershan in Hyderabad DISCUSSION Only less than half (46%) had the desirable habit of always washing their hands before and during food preparation Majority (87.5%) used to store raw and cooked foods separately Only less than half (48.75%) used separate utensils and cutting boards for preparing raw and cooked food 90% did not keep cooked food in refrigerator within two hours CONCLUSION REFERENCES 1. UNICEF. The state of world’s children 2000. Progress report 2000. UNICEF, New Delhi 2. Five keys to safer food manual. Department of food safety, zoonoses and food borne diseases. WHO 3. Khan Hameed A. The sanitation gap. Development deadly menace : Progress of Nations. UNICF Publications 1997; 5-12