Association Between Food Handling Practices , Food Handlers Personal Hygiene Checklist , and Microbial Contamination of Food Prepared at Cloud Kitchen

Shreya Valvekar

Association Between Food Handling Practices , Food Handlers Personal Hygiene Checklist , and Microbial Contamination of Food Prepared at Cloud Kitchen

Author(s)	Ms. Shreya Valvekar
Country	India
Abstract	The study entitled “Association Between Food Handling Practices, Food Handlers Personal Hygiene Checklist, and Microbial Contamination of Food Prepared at Cloud Kitchens” was undertaken to assess the association between food handling practices, food hygiene practices, and the level of contamination in cloud kitchens. With the increasing demand for online food delivery services, ensuring proper hygiene and safe food handling practices has become essential for maintaining food safety and protecting consumer health. The study was conducted among 20 food handlers from 5 selected cloud kitchens, with participants ranging from 22 to 82 years of age. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire covering Socio-demographic characteristics, personal hygiene, health-related issues, utensil and equipment hygiene, hand-washing practices, food handling practices, storage, and ventilation. Microbial analysis using TPC was done on 10 samples (sambar and dal).The findings revealed that most food handlers followed personal hygiene practices such as maintaining clean uniforms 9 (45%), trimming nails 14 (70%), using gloves 9 (35%), and avoiding jewellery while handling food 9 (45%); however, variations were observed in certain food handling practices. The microbial analysis showed differences in microbial load among the selected cloud kitchens, with the highest counts observed in cloud kitchen A (106 CFU) for dal samples and cloud kitchen B (263 CFU) for sambar samples. Statistical analysis using the chi-square test showed a significant association (137.8) and (52.8) between personal hygiene practices and microbial contamination levels (p < 0.05), supporting the alternate hypothesis, while ANOVA indicated no significant difference (0.24) between and within the selected cloud kitchens. The study concluded that better personal hygiene and food handling practices were associated with lower microbial contamination levels. Therefore, maintaining proper hygiene standards and safe food handling practices is important for improving food safety and reducing the risk of microbial contamination at cloud kitchens.
Keywords	Food Handling , Food Hygiene , Cloud Kitchen , Contamination
Field	Biology
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 4, July-August 2026
Published On	2026-07-26

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Association Between Food Handling Practices , Food Handlers Personal Hygiene Checklist , and Microbial Contamination of Food Prepared at Cloud Kitchen

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