Food hygiene and safety at the cafeteria kitchens in Nam Dinh province, 2018

Our servey on food hygene in 65 cafeteria kitchens with 200 or more servings in Nam Dinh province (2018) showed that: 36.7% of kitchens are located in industrial area, the rest are scattered in 10 districts and center of the city. There were 97.7% of kitchen shaving legal documents, of which 100% of employees were given periodic health checks and certified knowledge of food safety and hygiene; and 93.8% of kitchens had three-step verification records as prescribed. Regarding basic sanitation: 75.9% of kitchens met the requirements, of which 86.2% were designed according to the 1-way principle; 83.1% arranged separate room to change work wear clothes; 58.5% were equipped to prevent insects and pests; 73.8% used trash bins with lids. Regarding equipment and tools: 93.3% of kitchens met the requirements, of which 100% classified tools that were exclusively used for raw, cooked, and stored food samples; 67.7% had qualified containers for food and drinks; 83.1% of kitchens arranged hand washing sinks for employees. Regarding human resourse conditions: 91.2% of employees met the requirements, of which 63.8% had enough labor protection; 99.3% had short nail-cut and did not wear jewelry; 95.3% wore gloves when sharing food. Regarding food conditions: 78.2% of kitchens met the requirements, of which 92.3% signed contracts with food suppliers; 84.4% periodically tested the water quality. The rate of administrative managers of the enterprise (1) having right general knowledge about food hygiene and safety was of 81.7%; (2) strictly practicing food safety and hygiene was of 79.4%. The rate of kitchen managers (1) having right knowledge about food safety and hygiene was of 90.2%; (2) strictly practicing food safety and hygiene was of 87.8%; The rate of kitchen workers having right general knowledge about food hygiene and safety was of 82.9%. However, only 51.5% of them knew the best time for using food after processing; 91.2% had proper practice and 63.8% used full labor protection while working.