Conhecimento, atitudes e práticas dos consumidores sobre segurança dos alimentos em restaurantes de autosserviço em Pelotas - RS

Abstract

In today's modern society, eating out is an increasingly important part of people's diets. Among the commercial food options, the most frequented are the self-service restaurants. Food safety awareness is a major issue among consumers as they are the last contact with food in the supply chain and therefore play a significant role in foodborne disease outbreaks. The aim of this study was to evaluate the triad of knowledge, attitudes and practices on food safety of consumers during self-service in restaurants in the city of Pelotas - RS. Cross-sectional study, 11 self-service restaurants were included, 544 consumers were interviewed and the eating habits of 1,266 people were observed. To assess the environmental conditions, a checklist was used, consumer risk attitudes were assessed through an instrument with 13 items, to assess the knowledge and practices reported by consumers, an interview was carried out. Of the results found, regarding the environmental conditions, the lavatory for cleaning and the salivary protection glass were the least frequent (18.2%), the most recurrent risk attitude was talking about preparations with (25.9) and the least frequent was letting the utensils fall into the preparations (1.3%). Women, adults aged 40 to 49 years and less educated were associated with better risk practices in food safety. Regarding the statements used to assess the knowledge of consumers, the highest prevalence of incorrect answers was observed for: contaminated food is one that has a color, smell, flavor that is different from its own characteristics (80.7%), followed by tasting the food is important to check if it is contaminated (44.5%). In conclusion, this research not only adds to the knowledge about food safety of consumers, but also provides the basis for food safety oversight departments to develop relevant policies, making the knowledge about the risk practices and attitudes that can be increasingly public. be avoided.