Food safety knowledge and practices of pregnant women and postpartum mothers in Slovenia

Mojca Jevšnik (Author), Anja Česen (Author), Marina Šantić (Author), Andrej Ovca (Author)

Abstract

Food safety during pregnancy and postpartum is important for preventing foodborne diseases, while pregnant women are considered vulnerable due to their immunomodulatory condition. The current study aimed to investigate the self-reported food safety knowledge and practices of pregnant women and postpartum mothers in Slovenia using an online questionnaire and to compare the results with nonpregnant women as a control group. The study was conducted with 426 women, of whom 145 were pregnant, 191 were not pregnant, and 90 were postpartum. The online questionnaire consisted of questions related to food safety risk perception, hand hygiene, food purchase, food storage, food preparation and handling of infant formula and breast milk. The results showed that women generally have basic knowledge of proper food handling and are aware of food safety, but some specific gaps were identified in food handling at home, especially concerning microbiological risks. However, the results showed that pregnant women performed better than the postpartum group, and both groups performed significantly better than the nonpregnant group. The media was most frequently cited as a source of food safety information, especially by the pregnant group. Trained health workers should also inform women on how to ensure food safety in the home environment.

Keywords

food safety;food handling;pregnancy;postpartum;expressed breast milk;infant formula;

Data

Language:	English
Year of publishing:	2021
Typology:	1.01 - Original Scientific Article
Organization:	UL ZF - University College of Health Studies
UDC:	614.31:618.2/.7
COBISS:	80355843
ISSN:	2304-8158
Views:	166
Downloads:	62
Average score:	0 (0 votes)
Metadata:

Other data

Secondary language:	Slovenian
Secondary keywords:	varnost hrane;ravnanje s hrano;nosečnost;poporodna doba;iztisnjeno materino mleko;formula za dojenčke;
Pages:	str. 1-12
Volume:	ǂVol. ǂ10
Issue:	ǂiss. ǂ10
Chronology:	2021
DOI:	10.3390/foods10102412
ID:	13694377