Title: Knowledge and practice in food safety processes - a case study on Hungarian school catering

Authors: András Bittsánszky; András J. Tóth; Csaba Bálint Illés; Anna Dunay

Addresses: Indere Institute Nonprofit Ltd., H-2040 Budaörs, Munkácsy u. 16, Hungary ' Indere Institute Nonprofit Ltd, H-2040 Budaörs, Munkácsy u. 16, Hungary; Department of Business Economics and Management, Szent István University, H-2100 Gödöllő, Páter Károly u. 1, Hungary ' Department of Business Economics and Management, Szent István University, H-2100 Gödöllő, Páter Károly u. 1, Hungary ' Department of Business Economics and Management, Szent István University, H-2100 Gödöllő, Páter Károly u. 1, Hungary

Abstract: Providing the population with safe and quality food is an important objective all over the world. The healthy childhood nutrition and diet will determine the health state of children in their adult age; therefore, it will influence the future economic and social performance of the society. As children spend most of their time in educational institutions, school catering programs have become the focus of public attention all over the world. This paper introduces the Hungarian school catering system based upon the results of an overall food safety survey. The results of our researches showed that food safety level of the different kitchen units is mostly determined by the level of food processing activities and less by the technical-technological level of the school kitchens. According to our results, improving the knowledge and the attitudes of the employees in the school kitchens is more important than the technical-technological conditions.

Keywords: school catering; food safety; food quality; foodborne diseases; HACCP; food handling practice; good hygiene practices; GHP; knowledge improvement; process-oriented approach; knowledge management; process management; Hungary; case study; school kitchens; kitchen hygiene; food processing; employee attitudes.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIL.2015.071554

International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 2015 Vol.18 No.3, pp.380 - 396

Received: 09 Oct 2014
Accepted: 16 Nov 2014
Published online: 31 Aug 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article