Assessing safe food handling knowledge and practices of food service managers in Doha, Qatar

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to assess safe food handling practices, food safety knowledge, and adherence to implementation of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point among 53 food safety managers working in randomly selected food service establishments in Qatar. Face-to-face interviews with the managers at each participating food service establishment were conducted using a survey consisting of 40 questions in October-December 2015. In addition to the survey questionnaire, a checklist was used to determine the implementation of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point by observing actual practices applied at each food service establishment. About 66 and 68% of managers had college degree and were trained on Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point, respectively. Results also showed that casual sit-in and fine dine-in restaurants were the only food service establishments that consistently kept records on safe food handling practices (100%), followed by fast-food food service establishments (36%). Managers' training and education level were highly correlated with the probability of their employees receiving food safety training. This first assessment on food safety knowledge and practices in Qatar demonstrated that training and education are important factors that directly impact the food safety culture in food service establishments. These findings may help government agencies establish guidelines for compulsory on-site training of food handlers for effective food safety practices in food service establishments in Qatar where the fast growing demography has led to a rapid growth in food service establishment in different cuisines leading to heterogeneity in food safety practices.