Abstract:

Food-borne illnesses are responsible for disease globally. Using theory of planned behaviour as a framework, the objectives of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a nurse-led training on food safety practices among public primary school food vendors in Abeokuta South Local Government Ogun State, to determine the pre intervention and compare the post intervention knowledge, attitude and self-reported practices, mean scores on food safety and hygiene of intervention and control groups and to administer and evaluate food safety and hygiene training programme. This study adopted quasi-experimental design with two treatment groups forming the control and intervention groups using 120 food vendors who registered with Government in Abeokuta South Local Government. Self-administered questionnaires were used to assess food safety knowledge, attitude and self-reported practices of registered food handlers trained in the programme; a draft of the instrument along with the objectives of the study, research questions were submitted for face and content validation. Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient was used to test for reliability, values of 0.70 and above was accepted and items that scored less were reframed. Descriptive and inferential statistics such as t test were used to explore relationships between the nurse-led training and knowledge, attitude and self-reported practice. The study results revealed a statistically significant difference (p>000) between knowledge, attitude and practice of food handlers after the intervention. Results of this study may assist policy makers in planning future training programs for food handlers, which will eventually lead to a safer food supply for the school children and a reduction in food-borne disease outbreaks in Ogun State.