Date Received: 28-10-2019 / Date Accepted: 08-01-2020
Food hygiene and safety (FHS) is always one of the top consumer concerns when choosing food, including fresh pork. However, the system of quality and food safety management has been poorly applied in pork delivery in Vietnam. This research aimed to assess effects on FHS of pork of application of good hygiene practice (GHP). The studywas designed following the model of the intervention-control clinical trial, using10 traditional markets. The chosen markets were randomly divided into two groups: the GHP group with 5 markets to apply GHP, whereas the non-GHP group with the other 5 markets to sell pork as before. At the beginning and end of the study, awareness and practice of FHS of the butchers were assessed through the interview using semi-structured questionnaires; at the same time the levels of microbial contamination of pork, equipment, and water were evaluated with sample analyses. It was found that application of GHP significantly improved awareness of pork hygiene and right practices for personal hygiene of butchers and reduced microbial contamination on the fresh pork, equipment, and water.
