and did not use glove at all times (4%). The study also
demonstrated that although food handlers may have
basic knowledge on good personal hygiene, most of
them do not grasp the essential aspects of hygiene
such as hand washing procedure, and some cannot
link the values of glove use with contamination or
bare hand contact with foods.
Although the sample size seems to be smaller, it
could be generally concluded that the basic personal
hygiene knowledge of the food handlers was good
but improvement of the food handlers’ practices is
needed to prevent the incidence of food borne illness
among school children. The findings also concluded
that the good hand washing practices among food
handlers require strict attention.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the participating
schools and respondents for their cooperation in data
collection. Our thanks also go to the financial support
of Universiti Putra Malaysia (Research University
Grants Scheme).