Page 71 - Petelin, Ana, ur. 2024. Zdravje delovno aktivnih in starejših odraslih / Health of Working-Age and Older Adults. Zbornik povzetkov z recenzijo ▪︎ Book of Abstracts. Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem/University of Primorska Press

Is the knowledge about food safety among the older adults adequate?

Tjaša Kamnik, Mojca Jevšnik Podlesnik
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ljubljana, Slovenija

Introduction: A significant public health problem is foodborne illnesses caused by path-
ogenic microorganisms. Due to improper handling of food, we are all at risk, especial-
ly children, the elderly, pregnant women, individuals with weakened immune systems,
and the poor. With the help of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, aimed
to assess the attitude towards ensuring food safety and determine whether the knowl-
edge of food safety from purchasing to preparing food at home, among the elderly is
better than in previous Slovenian and foreign studies.
Methods: The methods of a literature review, a method of a survey questionnaire and
the method of a semi-structured interview were used. We searched for scientific arti-
cles using the bibliographic databases Scopus, Web of Science, Pubmed, and the Dig-
ital Library of the University of Ljubljana (DiKUL). We reviewed all scientific articles
on the knowledge, behaviour, and attitude of the elderly towards ensuring food safety.
The participants for the survey and interview were selected with snowball sampling.
The questionnaire was completely filled out by 125 elderly people over the age of 65.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 participants over the age of 65.
Results: The results showed that although the elderly are aware of food safety, they are
unable to fully apply this knowledge in practice. We found that they often engage in
hazardous food preparation and consumption practices (insufficient cooking of food,
not using a probe thermometer, etc.), which frequently exposes them to the risks of
foodborne illnesses. Despite being aware of the risks that can arise from not knowing
or inadequately implementing the principles of safe food, the elderly often do not rec-
ognize themselves as personally susceptible. They are insufficiently aware of their own
role in ensuring food safety, as they perceive themselves as less responsible.
Discussion and conclusion: The research results are comparable to previous Slovenian
and international studies. Among the elderly, awareness of food safety remains at the
same level as in past studies. Therefore, it is necessary to raise the level of knowledge
and understanding of food safety principles and to explore appropriate channels for
informing the older population.
Keywords: food safety, foodborne infections, elderly, survey questionnaire, semi-struc- prehrana in zdravje delovno aktivnih in starejših odraslih | nutrition and health of working-age and older adults
tured interview

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