AbstractFood handler’s training is an important key to food safety management system. To understand the requirements of training of food handlers, the study was conducted in the city of Bengaluru and the education level and awareness regarding food safety was captured. A total of 16 Food Business operators (FBO’s) with 284 food handlers (FH) were selected. Two questionnaires were used for collecting information on the department of work, their literacy level and food safety trainings undergone. The result showed that the majority, 50% of the food handlers were in the department of chef and washing & cleaning, followed by the rest of the department consisting of manager, cashier, storekeeper, helper and service. The subjects comprised of 83% literate and 17% illiterate population. Most of the FH were middle school educated followed by secondary, senior secondary, primary and graduates. The cashiers and mangers were 100% educated and on the other side the washing and cleaning staff had more than 50 percent illiterate members. The rest of the team had a mix of education levels but more than 50% were literates. Nearly 88 percent of food handlers had never undergone food safety training. There is a need for the right training intervention program as the gap between the law makers and the followers is big. The loss due to water and food poisoning can affect the economy of the country through direct effect like medical expense, absenteeism, unhealthy human resource and waste of valuable resources resulting in increase of carbon footprints in the food chain.
Keywords: Food Safety; Food Handlers; FSSAI; Training; Food Poisoning.