Food Service Providers’ Attitudes Towards Nutrition and Food Handling Practices in Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study assessed food service providers’ attitudes towards nutrition and food handling practices in Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria with foodservice providers randomly selected hotels and fast food restaurants in the town consisting of a total of 120 respondents. The study used of descriptive design and data was collected with the aid of structured questionnaire that sought information on the socio-economic characteristics of respondents, sources of nutritional knowledge, preparation and handling of food, nutrition attitude towards of food service providers. Frequencies and percentages were used to summarize the data collected and the hypotheses tested using chi-square. The result showed that there is a significant relationship between attitude of foodservice providers and food handling practices, age, sex and education while there is no significant relationship existed for income and marital status. The study concluded that majority of the hospitality outlets and food service providers in Osogbo have adequate favorable attitude towards nutrition and they use this during the process of food handling and preparation. Food handlers in hospitality outlets are to receive constant training and re-training on food and nutrition, food hygiene, food preparation and beverages and drinks.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n27p1106