Exploring the Effectiveness of Gamification in Food Safety Training: A Systematic Review

Conventional food safety training has long been the primary approach for educating food handlers; however, gamification has emerged as an innovative strategy to enhance food safety learning and help prevent the risk of foodborne illnesses. This study aimed to systematically evaluate the effectiveness of gamification in food safety training by synthesizing the available evidence on its impact on educational outcomes, engagement, motivation, and food safety behavior compared with conventional instructional approaches. This systematic review followed the PRISMA-P methodology to screen and retrieve peer-reviewed articles published between 2006 and 2025 from databases including Web of Science and Scopus. Among the eight identified studies, the reported interventions primarily used web-based games, simulation activities, serious games, and gamified training platforms targeting topics such as hygiene, cross-contamination prevention, cooking temperatures, microbiological risks, and HACCP principles. Most studies employed quasi-experimental or randomized controlled designs and reported positive educational outcomes, including enhanced self-efficacy, behavioral awareness, problem-solving skills, and compliance with food safety practices. The findings suggest that gamification could offer a promising approach for food safety education; however, the current data remain inconclusive because of the limited number of heterogeneous studies and the lack of high-quality evidence assessing long-term behavioral change. It is suggested that future research could benefit from developing inclusive, AI-enhanced gamified food safety training tools that provide personalized, multilingual, culturally adapted, and literacy-sensitive learning experiences while integrating adaptive feedback, real-time analytics, and immersive technologies to improve accessibility, engagement, and long-term behavioral change across diverse populations.