Objective: This study was a survey to determine the food safety situation among food shops and food stalls which sell food to be given to monks for the purposes of making merit and to assess the relationship between knowledge, attitude and practice of food safety in Ratchathewi District, Bangkok.
Materials and Methods: Food shops and food stalls, ready-to-eat foods, and food handlers were selected with the criteria that they were on the way of the monks path way to receive merit food in the morning. Data were collected by checklist, questionnaire and test kits, from April to June 2010. The checklist was modified inspection form from the Department of Health, Ministry of Public Health. Knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) were tested by using KAP questionnaires. Data were analyzed by using frequency, mean, standard deviation, Chi-square and Fisher exact test Results: There were 13 food shops and 55 food stalls that were assessed for food sanitation. It was found that only 16.4% of the stalls passed the standard criteria. Ready-to-eat foods were not reheated and did not have a cover. The test results for microbiological contamination indicated total bacteria and total coliform at 15.2% and 41.3%, respectively. For the chemical contamination results, borax contamination was 3.3%, salicylic acid 14.3% and organophosphate 3.3%, while formalin and sodium hydrosulfite contamination were not found. Only 13.0% of the food handlers had good knowledge, 18.5% had a good attitude and 15.2% had good practice. Conclusion: Food safety in food shops and food stalls need continuous monitoring. Food handlers should receive suitable training in the basic principles of food safety as well as on rules of personal hygiene and approved practices in food handling.