Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess current food-handling practices of employees in school food service settings, as well as their knowledge levels, and identify relationships between knowledge, practices, and influencing variables. The survey was conducted for dietitians and employees in the school foodservice industry in Gyeongsangbuk-do province. A total of 270 and 570 questionnaires for dietitians and employees, respectively, were distributed by mail. Response rates were $62\%$ (N=171) and $66\%$ (N=376) from dietitians and employees, respectively. Data was analyzed using SPSS Windows (version 10.0). Descriptive statistics were used to summarize data. Pearson correlations were applied to test for relationships between knowledge and practice of HACCP principles. Stepwise regression analysis was performed to examine the influence of knowledge, current education guidelines, demographic information (working experience, academic background, and certification for food and cooking), and school characteristics (food production system, service style, and number of meals). School foodservice employees were found to have a significant amount of food safety knowledge ($67.5\pm1.8$ out of 100 possible points). Proper food handling practices were not always being followed in many schools. The relationship between their knowledge, current HACCP education training, and food handling practices was not significant. These results suggested the present situation of HACCP trainings performed by dietitians were inadequate for many school foodservice operations. The number of meals in school was an independent predictor of the employees' food-handling practices. These results suggest that an effective education program should integrate endeavors that take account of social and environmental influences on food safety to support the improvement of food-handling practices and the implementation of a HACCP program. Furthermore, dietitians should continue to provide consulting, training, and technical assistance to schools on HACCP implementation.