Abstract:

Objective To investigate the health literacy level, awareness of food safety knowledge, and food safety behaviors of catering service employees in Qibao area, to explore the correlation between food safety knowledge and behaviors and health literacy, and to provide the scientific basis for formulating intervention strategies for catering service employees. Methods The questionnaire survey of health literacy was conducted among 477 catering service employees by stratified cluster sampling in Qibao area of Shanghai. Independent samples T Test, distance (similarity) analysis, and Spearman correlation analysis were adopted to reveal the correlation among the health literacy, food safety knowledge, and food safety behaviors. Results In Qibao area, the percentage of catering service employees with health literacy was 22.9%. Three parts of health literacy were the health knowledge and concepts (25.4%), health lifestyle and behaviors (30.8%), and basic health skills (70.6%), respectively. Five types of health problems were the scientific health concepts (78.4%), infectious diseases prevention (41.9%), chronic disease prevention (30.2%), safety and emergency treatment (65.6%), and basic medical treatment (22.2%), respectively. The average score of food safety knowledge was 10.93±2.217. The percentage of catering service employees who were in accordance with rules and regulations was 67.3%-97.3%. The overall health literacy, three aspects of health literacy, and five types of health problems were closely correlated with food safety knowledge and were not significantly correlated with daily food safety behaviors. Conclusion Comprehensive intervention strategies that focuses on improving the health literacy of catering service employees and propagandizing rules and regulations should be adopted to improve working behaviors, protect public health, and perform further verifications.

Key words: health literacy, food safety knowledge and behavior, correlation analysis