1) The study assessed the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of hygiene among workers at pig slaughterhouses and pork sellers in markets in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand. 2) It found that knowledge of hygiene varied between slaughterhouse workers and pork sellers. Nearly 70% of pork sellers agreed they would work even if they had diarrhea. 3) Microbial testing found that mean total viable counts and Enterobacteriaceae counts on pork samples from markets exceeded international standards, indicating potential contamination, while counts at slaughterhouses were within standards.

1. Assessment of Hygienic Practices among Pig Slaughterhouses
and Markets in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand
Chayanee Jenpanich1
*, Fred Unger2
, Thomas Alter3
, Warangkhana Chaisowwong4,5
1
Joint Master Course in Veterinary Public Health (MVPH) of Freie Universität Berlin and Chiang Mai University, Thailand.
2
International Livestock Research Institute, Hanoi, Vietnam.
3
Institute of Food Hygiene, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin.
4
Department of Veterinary Biosciences and Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Thailand.
5
Veterinary Public Health Centre for Asia Pacific, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Thailand.
Cross contamination in food especially from animal origin and drinking water is a major causes of
food borne diseases in Thailand. Pork is considered as one of main protein sources for Thai people
with the high consumption. There is a possibility that food are contaminated with microbial and/or
chemical hazards along pig production chain if the food hygiene and food assurance system are not
appropriated. Therefore, hygienic practices are important factors to ensure that food are safe for
consumers. Majority of studies in Thailand focused on determination of biological hazards while
there was a lack of knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) surveys.
The purpose of this study was to assess of the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices among
slaughterhouse workers, pork sellers concerning food hygiene and to assess microbiological
hygienic indicators.
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results
Study design: Cross sectional study duration December 2014 - April 2015
Data collection
Sixteen slaughterhouses were processed from
DLD’s registered-slaughterhouses in Chiang Mai-
Lamphun that permitted sample collection. Thirty-
two markets were selected from all 18 registered
markets in Chiang Mai city municipality that repre-
sented urban area and 13 markets from 24 districts
outside the city municipality that represented sub-
urban and rural areas (11 districts are excluded due
to the accessibility distance).
KAP questionnaires
Data were collected from 2 slaughterhouse work-
ers per slaughterhouse (n=32) and 2 pork sellers
per market (n=62).
Microbiological Examination
Eight of the sixteen slaughterhouses were ran-
domly selected. Samples were taken from 5 carcass
swabs, 1 cutting board swab, 1 knife swab and 2
hand washing (n=72). Sixteen of the thirty-one
markets were selected and from each 1 pork, 1 cut-
The author acknowledge to Veterinary Public Health Center for Asia and Pacific, Deutscher Akademischer Austausch
Dienst (DAAD) and International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) for financial and technical support for this
project and also thankful to Asst.Prof.Dr. Veerasak Punyapornwithaya for his valuable guidance.
1. Clayton, D.A., Griffith, C.J., Price, P. , Peters, A.C. 2002. Food handlers’ beliefs and self-reported practices.
International Journal of Environmental Health Research. 12, 25-39.
2. Brown M.H., Gill C.O., Hollingsworth J., Nickelson II R., Seward S., Sheridan J.J., Stevenson T., Sumner J.L.,
Theno D.M., Usborne W.R., Zink D. 2000. The role of microbiological testing in system for assuring
the safety of beef. International Journal of Food Microbiology. 62, 7–16.
Table 2. The response of pork sellers (percentage) practice statements related to food safety.
MVPH student Batch 6: 2013-2015
Name: Chayanee Jenpanich
Affiliation: Bureau of Disease Control and Veterinary Services,
Department of Livestock Development, Bangkok
Country: THAILAND
Knowledge
- Knowledge of respondents was vary between slaughterhouse workers and pork sellers (Figure 1).
- Range of respondent’ knowledge was wider for pork
sellers.
Attitudes
- Nearly 70% of pork sellers agreed that diarrhea did
not affect for their jobs and they also agreed that they
worked even they got sick (Table 1).
- Slaughterhouse workers agreed that protective equip-
ment such as gloves (93%) can reduce the risk of food
- Pork sellers understood that masks can reduced the risk of food contamination but some of them
thought that if they wore masks, they looked like people who got sick and consumers did not want
to buy pork from their shops.
- Slaughterhouse workers agreed that protective equipment can reduce the risk of food contamina-
tion but 32% of them did not use gloves at all because they thought that gloves cannot protect their
hands, blood still can go inside and using it was not convenient to do their jobs.
- At slaughterhouses, the mean values obtained for TVC and Enterobacteriaceae count on carcasses
was within the acceptable range of EU standard (<4 log, <2 log respectively) while markets showed
the a high mean value of microbial load obtained for TVC in pork (>5 log).
- Although respondents had good knowledge of food safety, it was difficult to apply this knowledge
when handling meat, similar observations were reported that 95% of respondents received food
hygiene training but they did not always carry out in food hygiene practices to implement in their
Figure 1. Comparison of boxplot distribu-
tions for respondents correct answers (%)
according to knowledge categories.
Practices
- Forty-three percent of pork sellers never used
masks at work and always handled their food at
work when they got diarrhea are shown at
70.5% (Table 2).
- Eighty-one percent of slaughterhouse workers
still worked even they had abrasion on their
hands.
Total viable count and Enterobacteriacea
count
Samples Total viable
count
Enterobacteriaceae
count
Carcass
(log10 cfu/cm2
)
3.09 ± 1.34 0.03 ± 1.08
Pork
(log10 cfu/g)
5.50 ± 0.39 2.55 ± 1.43
Table 1. The response of pork sellers (percentage) to
No Topics Strongly
agree
Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
disagree
1 Diarrhea does not affect in
my job.
7
(13.72%)
28
(54.90%)
3
(5.89%)
11
(21.56%)
2
(3.93%)
2 Using gloves is important
in reducing risk of food
contamination.
18
(35.29%)
27
(52.92%)
2
(3.93%)
3
(5.89%)
1
(1.97%)
3 Using mask is important
in reducing risk of food
contamination.
11
(21.56%
30
(58.82%)
1
(1.97%)
8
(15.68%)
1
(1.97%)
Discussion
No Topics Always Often Sometimes Rarely Never
1 You handle food at work
when you have diarrhea.
36
(70.59%)
- 3
(5.88%)
- 12
(23.53%)
2 You use gloves at work daily. 28
(54.90%)
2
(3.92%)
8
(15.69%)
1
(1.96%)
12
(23.53%)
3 You use masks at work daily. 2
(3.92%)
2
(3.92%)
13
(25.49%)
12
(23.53%)
22
(43.14%)
total viable counts and Enterobacteriaceae
counts (Brown et al., 2000). The mean of total
viable counts and Enterobacteriaceae counts
were shown on Table 3 by different types of
samples.
Table 3. Total viable counts and Enterobacteri-
aceae counts in different types of samples
Acknowledgement
References
Data Collection
KAP
Questionnaires
Microbiological
Examination
- Personal hygiene
- Cross contamination
- Food borne illness
- Time & Temp.
- Total viable count
(ISO:4833, 2003E)
- Enterobacteriaceae
count (ISO:21528-2,
2002)