Food safety and personal hygiene knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Jordanian mothers in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional survey

Research Article

International Journal of One Health, 10(1): 114-124

https://doi.org/10.14202/IJOH.2024.114-124

Ola D. Al-Maseimi¹, Muna M. Abbas², Nour A. Elsahoryi³, and Maysoun S. Qutob⁴

1. Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences, Al-Balqa' Applied University, Al-Salt, Jordan.
2. Department of Applied Microbiology, Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences, Al-Balqa' Applied University, Al-Salt, Jordan.
3. Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of Petra, Amman, Jordan.
4. Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences, Applied Science Private University, Amman, Jordan.

Background and Aim: Foodborne illnesses have shaken mothers' defense worldwide because poor knowledge and unsafe food handling practices can jeopardize their children. In Jordan, there are no reliable data on the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAPs) of mothers regarding food safety when the COVID-19 pandemic occurs. Therefore, this study evaluated Jordanian mothers' understanding, beliefs, and behaviors by examining their KAPs during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

Materials and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study on food safety KAPs of mothers living in Jordan following the COVID-19 pandemic. A reliable and accurate survey with 55 questions was distributed among mothers through social media. A total of 376 mothers completed the questionnaire.

Results: The results showed a remarkable awareness among the participants of how to keep food safe. However, there is still a significant gap in the implementation of this information in everyday life. This research emphasizes the need for focused interventions in the context of COVID-19 to bridge the gap between Jordanian mothers' KAPs on food safety and personal cleanliness.

Conclusion: Efforts should be made, such as public health campaigns and educational programs, to empower mothers, guaranteeing a consistent and comprehensive approach to food safety and personal hygiene in families. These results provide important insights for policymakers and health professionals who want to improve public health initiatives and community resilience during public health crises. Keywords: food safety, foodborne illness, Jordan, knowledge, attitudes and practices, personal hygiene.

Keywords: food safety, foodborne illness, Jordan, knowledge, attitudes and practices, personal hygiene.

How to cite this article: Al-Maseimi OD, Abbas M, Elsahoryi NA, and Qutob MS (2024) Food safety and personal hygiene knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Jordanian mothers in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional survey, Int. J. One Health, 10(1): 114-124.

Received: 27-12-2023 Accepted: 28-03-2024 Published online: 15-04-2024

Corresponding author: Ola D. Al-Maseimi E-mail: olaalmaseimi@bau.edu.jo

DOI: 10.14202/IJOH.2024.114-124

Copyright: Al-Maseimi, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.