Iranian Journal of

Background and Objectives: Food borne diseases are one of the common and persistent problems of health system that staff in food preparation and distribution centers play important role in their incident. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of educational courses on changing hygienic knowledge and practice of managers and staff in food preparation and distribution centers in Mashhad in 2012. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, knowledge and practice in tree domains of personal, construction and tools hygiene were studied in 513 employees and employers of food preparation and distribution centers in Mashhad. The data was collected through interview, observation, and inspection checklist. Results: 265 subjects (51.6%) passed training course and awarded certificate, while 248 subjects (48.4%) did not participate whatsoever in training courses. Mean scores of knowledge and performance in trained group were 68.1±16.1 and 70.8±10.5% and in untrained group were 62.6±15.4 and 61.8±11.6% respectively, indicating statistically significant difference (p<0.05). Comparing scores of knowledge and practice scores between employers with valid certificate (during last 3 years) with employers without certificate did not show any valuable statistically difference in score reduction. Conclusion: This study showed that hygienic training courses can be effective in improving knowledge and practice of managers and staff in food preparation and distribution centers.