4. DISCUSSION
The global pandemic COVID-19 is driving people to undertake various precautionary measures around the world, like refrain from usual social and economic activities, lock themselves inside the house most of the time, gathering foods for upcoming days, etc. (Foodware365, 2020). In Bangladesh, strict protocols are not followed by the people, especially in the capital Dhaka, a megacity. From the perspective of Bangladesh, a densely populated and lower-middle-income country, social distancing is visibly impossible. People instead work outside in this dangerous situation than starving (Anwar et al., 2020). Food and beverage industries worldwide are likely to experience variable impacts of COVID-19 on different stages of its value and supply chain (Manepalli & Nagvenkar, 2020). The food industries of Bangladesh are no exception. There are problems in the supply of raw materials and daily labor, consumer demands, and transportation. The workers and corporate level are at a high risk of infection that can potentially impact the production and manufacturing of food products. Right now, primary concern for the food industry is to provide all support to keep their employees healthy and available (Foodware365, 2020). Food handlers are usually exposed to various biological materials (Peng et al., 2020). Moreover, the coronavirus can persist in the food industry’s regular handling surface, e.g., metal, plastic, and glass, for a couple of days (Kampf et al., 2020). Therefore the workers need to have knowledge of proper safety rules and bear attitude for practicing those to stay safe from spreading COVID-19.
To the best of our knowledge, this current study is the first that evaluates the KAPs of food handlers of a food industry towards the pandemic COVID-19. However, since the outbreak, we found some studies regarding KAPs and COVID-19 conducted with healthcare workers and physicians (Ahmed et al., 2020; Huynh et al., 2020; Khader et al., 2020; Olum et al., 2020; Saqlain et al., 2020; Shi et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2020), students (Aynalem et al., 2020; Taghrir et al., 2020; Wadood et al., 2020), and general people (Abdelhafiz et al., 2020; Azlan et al., 2020; Karim et al., 2020; Roy et al., 2020; Zhong et al., 2020).
In the present study, the respondents from the food industry had sufficient knowledge regarding COVID-19. Almost 90% of them provided a correct response in different questions asked on COVID-19. The knowledge section was divided into two parts, namely, general and food safety, that was responded correctly by 91.6% and 87.9% of participants, respectively. Similar kind of performances where more than 80% respondents have accurate knowledge on COVID-19 can be found in some recent studies by (Saqlain et al., 2020) (93.2%), (Zhong et al., 2020) (90%), (Shi et al., 2020) (89.5%), (Zhang et al., 2020) (89%), (Taghrir et al., 2020) (86.9%), (Olum et al., 2020) (82.4%). We have come to know from the management that they arranged specialized COVID-19 training weekly since the first case been diagnosed in Bangladesh. Section managers and executives conducted those training. In addition, the industry has different food safety certifications like ISO, HACCP, etc., and for this purpose, they need to arrange food safety training for all of their employees at regular intervals. This may be one of the reasons for their performances in food safety knowledge. Although it is not possible to compare the outcomes with any study on Food industry and COVID-19, we found that the food safety knowledge level of food handlers from food different food industries was satisfactory (Ansari-Lari et al., 2010; Adesokan & Raji, 2014; Jianu & Goleţ, 2014).
The respondents seemed to have well acknowledged about the necessary information on COVID-19. The causative organism, symptoms, severity, and consequences of the infection, how it spreads – are usually known to almost 9 in every ten people. Comparatively, few people were aware of whether this disease can transmit from pet animal to human and if there is any registered treatment option or medicine available in the market. Due to the spreading of panic and fake news in this pandemic time, many owners and people fear that pets might transmit the disease to them. There is no significant proof of substantial threat from pets or animals (Parry, 2020). More than 10% of them were not sure that diseases like diabetes, CVD, and asthma could be deadly in this situation. Usually, participants with no education appeared to have very poor knowledge of this issue. People who acquire information about COVID-19 from their friends and family are also a bit unaware of this matter. Some workers do not have education, solvency, and have no access to the internet and smartphones. They mostly depend on other people for any information on COVID-19. As a result, several essential information remained unknown to them.
When we tried to ask them questions regarding the COVID-19 issue and food safety, correct response percentages (87.9%) were lower than the general part (91.6%). More than 25% failed to answer the question regarding the survival of SARS-CoV-2 in freezing temperatures. According to the WHO, this organism can survive at −20 °C for nearly two years, and transmission via frozen food can be possible (WHO, 2020). A study found that among people from different occupations in Bangladesh, there is a significant knowledge gap about the incubation and transmission characteristics of this virus (Mannan & Mannan, 2020). When it comes to relating the freezing temperature and microorganisms, several studies demonstrated a low level of food handler’s knowledge regarding this (Bas et al., 2006; Galgamuwa et al., 2016; Akabanda et al., 2017; Al-Kandari et al., 2019; Ansari-Lari et al., 2020). But the level of performance and knowledge level on related topic of the respondents in current study is undoubtedly better than these studies.
Usually, for the inactivation of viruses, a typical cooking temperature of more than 70°C is sufficient (für Risikobewertung, 2020). The workers knew that cooking and heating is enough for the product to make it safe from pathogens. Besides, almost everyone (97.4%) agreed that alcohol-based disinfectants could be effective against SARS-CoV-2. The SARS-CoV-2 cannot spread through drinking water. Commonly used treatment methods are competent enough to make the water safe (CDC, 2020), and it was known to almost all workers. In a baking industry, cooking or baking temperature is a significant concern. Besides, cleaning of processing surfaces and conveyors with disinfectants is an everyday job for the floor workers. Therefore, dealing with the questions on thermal processing and basic hygiene became easy for them. This current industry has HACCP and ISO certification. They arrange several training sessions for the workers at regular intervals, as training is a requirement for any food industry to get the certification and renew the certification (Mortimore & Wallace, 2013). The training focusing COVID-19 during the outbreak also added value to their previous knowledge. Whether the virus can survive at freezing temperature or, can the ultraviolet rays destroy it – is unknown to many respondents. But, a fair amount of workers answered correctly in question regarding the effect of pasteurization on the coronavirus.
From the present study, we found that majority of respondents had a desirably positive attitude towards the COVID-19 issue. Except three of them, all said that they remained worried about their family members during this outbreak. In Dhaka city, most people working in different processing and manufacturing industries are from outside the city and leave their families in their hometown or village (BBS, 2017). Furthermore, due to transportation lockdown, it was hard for them to visit their family. Why the three participants declared of not being worried about family is hard to explain. About 10 percent thought that the industry should run its operation in the time of COVID-19, and they will not get infected while working in the factory. Besides, about 7% of them wanted to come to work although they fell ill, and 8% of the workers did not want to let the management know about their sickness. Although not many in numbers, these few peoples can cause a threat to other healthy people during the time of work if they are infected with the coronavirus. In a country like Bangladesh, workers’ socioeconomic conditions and challenges may drive them to work while feeling sick. During the lockdown, a significant number of people have lost their jobs in Bangladesh due to the closure of industries. Many industries cut salaries while some were unable to pay the incentives before the Eid festivals, 2020 (Amnesty International, 2020). More than 10% of participants did not agree on washing hands for at least 20 seconds. Perhaps, they thought maintaining a particular time was not necessary. Respondents from the no education group and those who said to collect information from family and friends were mostly disagreed on this issue.
Most of the respondents (95% on average) reported washing and sanitizing hands more often, avoiding shaking hands and touching foods while working in a line, and altering masks after coughing and sneezing. This indicates the frequent changes and awareness of workers for preventing the COVID-19. The effectiveness of general training provided by the management after the outbreak is visible through these behaviors. Surprisingly, 7 in 10 participants said they usually made contact with eyes, mouth, and nose while handling food products in the production line. It is essential to know the appropriate use of gloves and masks in the food industry while handling the products (WHO, 2020). This kind of unexpected behavior of not washing or sanitizing hands and touching face, nose, and eyes after coughing or sneezing can also be seen in a study (Prabhusaran et al., 2018). We want to say that the participants know the risks of touching the face during this time, but such strict practices may take some more time. Also, there is a chance of considering thyself less likely to the transmission, which may be stated as ‘optimistic bias’ (da Cunha et al., 2014).
A remarkable number of people (25.2%) found to go outside more than once in the last seven days, and about 13% of total respondents were not used to wear masks outside the factory. Moreover, some of them use public transport regularly. This kind of practice could lead a person to transmit more often, which would make all other employees prone to infection within a week or two. This kind of occurrence can force the business to close immediately (SGS, 2020). In a similar study on some university students in Bangladesh, it seemed that a remarkable number were not interested in using face masks, avoiding public places, and transports (Wadood et al., 2020). In another study from Bangladesh by Haque et al., (2020), it was observed that nearly 30% of the participants frequently go outside and meet their friends. On the contrary, many improved practices in avoiding crowds can be seen in different study groups from Malaysia (Azlan et al., 2020), China (Zhong et al., 2020), and Iran (Taghrir et al., 2020).
According to the study, the total KAP scores were not affected by gender, age, and working sections, although there were differences in the knowledge scores. We found that the males, workers of 20 to 30 years old, and those working in the production departments significantly have higher knowledge scores. When, in most of the recent KAP studies (Azlan et al., 2020; Abdelhafiz et al., 2020; Neamti et al., 2020; Olum et al., 2020; Zhong et al., 2020) female participants showed higher scores than male participants. In different studies, people of different age limits showed different outcomes in knowledge scores. This is hard to compare these results with the food industry people as they have separate working environments. For example, respondents above 40 and 50 years old, respectively, had superior knowledge compared to other age groups (Azlan et al., 2020; Huynh et al., 2020). Another study found that respondents between the ages of 18 and 30 performed better on the COVID-19 knowledge-related questions (Abdelhafiz et al., 2020).
The exciting thing is that the respondents with less experience are superior in their total KAP scores. The coefficient is negative in value in case of total working experience (Table 5 ). Therefore, the younger food handlers have good knowledge of COVID-19, and they are positive in their attitude and approach to this pandemic than the elderly participants. It is a novel virus, and the young have more access to the internet and other information due to being technologically sound. A similar kind of result was observed by (Huynh et al., 2020). Contradictory results can also be seen in a study, where participants with more experiences had a higher level of knowledge (Nemati et al., 2020). Education showed to have a significant role in the KAP scores of the participants. Those who have completed graduation are superior in KAP. This finding is in line with the studies of (Abdelhafiz et al., 2020; Olum et al., 2020; Zhong et al., 2020).
In the current study, most food handlers reported different social media as their sources of information on COVID-19. A fair number of people referred to television and newspapers for the latest update, followed by those who depend on websites, family members, and friends. Those who kept themselves updated through social media had significantly better knowledge than others. However, social media followers lagged behind the TV and newspaper readers in showing a positive attitude. Age difference and education level may be considered as an essential factor for choosing different media as a source for information during this time (Olum et al., 2020)