Avaliação da percepção de risco das doenças transmitidas por alimentos pelos manipuladores da alimentação escolar da rede de ensino municipal de Cuiabá-MT

Abstract

The perception of risk of Foodborne Diseases by the school food handlers of the municipal education network of Cuiabá-MT was evaluated. The study is transversal and was carried out in ten public schools in the city. A questionnaire was applied to investigate the socioeconomic and professional profile of food handlers and a questionnaire on risk perception, containing seven questions related to food hygiene and safe handling. The classification of the risk perception score was divided into three levels: perception of low risk (0.0 to 4.0 cm), perception of average risk (4.1 to 7.0 cm) and perception of high risk (7.1 to 10 cm). The manipulators were mostly female, with a mean of 46.3 years, browns, married, with children, with high schooling and income of 1 to 2 minimum wages. Regarding the professional profile, 95.7% had already participated in training on good food handling practices and had, on average, five years' experience as a school food handler. The means of the risk perception score indicated that the manipulators classified all the questions as medium or high risk of occurrence of DTAs. The issue regarding the risk of contamination of food by the sick handler had the highest risk perception score (8.8). It was concluded that the manipulators are receiving adequate training and that the training are having a positive effect on the perception of risk of occurrence of DTAs.