Employee Hygiene Management and Food Safety Practices among Local Restaurants in the Philippines

Abstract

Food safety is crucial for both people and the food industry. Faulty food safety is one the most prevalent issues in the Philippines wherein food establishments serve as the main source and means, impacting inhabitant’s daily lives. This study aimed to explore the influence of employee hygiene management on food safety practices among local restaurant employees. This study was steered to focus on whether employee hygiene management contributed to increasing food safety practices among local restaurants. There were 100 employees in five (5) different local restaurants in Santo Tomas who were chosen through total sampling technique. Two (2) research tools were adapted for this research mean and Pearson r. The results of the study indicated that employee hygiene management in terms of hygiene knowledge and employee management was very high. Food safety practices in terms of personal hygiene, food hygiene and environmental hygiene were very high. Further analysis eventually showed that employee hygiene management significantly affects food safety practices among local restaurants. These were purposefully selected and modified to align with the study's objectives. The study reveals that there was a positive correlation between employee hygiene management and food safety practices among local restaurants with an r-value 0.360 and a p-value 0.05. Therefore, this brought attention to the fact that employers, employees, consumers, local health units, and future researchers are determined to value the importance of employee hygiene management to maintain food safety practices in local restaurants. Thus, future researchers should focus on investigating the effectiveness of maintaining the food properly by the food handlers. However, future researchers can add information to the body of knowledge.