Prevalence in Food Safety Behaviors of Pregnant Women and Their Associated Factors

Food handling practices playa key role in the prevalence of food-borne illness. Despite the fact that pregnant women are high risk groups for food-borne disease, little is known about their actual food handling practices at home. The objective of this study was to investigate behaviors regarding food-related hygienic practices of pregnant women. The questionnaire included questions in five major areas : personal hygiene ; adequate cooking ; avoiding cross contamination ; keeping food at safe temperatures ; and avoiding food from unsafe sources. Analysis of 488 questionnaires showed the respondents were unaware of the importance of safe food handling practices. Especially, pregnant women in our study should be encouraged to be careful about either risk of adequate cooking $(2.08\pm0.66)$ and keeping foods at safe temperatures $(2.69\pm0.63)$. Residency and number of children were consistent independent predictors of food handling behaviors. Previous food safety education also was found to have significant effect on food handling practices. TV news and newspapers were considered the most usable sources of food safety information by respondents. The behaviors identified in this study represent ones of particular importance for high-risk populations, like pregnant women. These population characteristics identified in this study could be incorporated in development of food safety educational programs for pregnant women being vulnerable on food-borne illness. Our results could have implications for the design of effective food safety educational efforts. This study indicates the need for continued and improved food safety education and for enforcing systematic food safety education for pregnant women.