Evaluation of Food Safety and Food Handler Hygiene-Sanitation in Elementary School Canteens Based on HACCP Principles

Abstract

School canteens are important food environments for children, but inadequate hygiene, sanitation, temperature control, and cross-contamination prevention can increase food-safety risks. This study was designed to evaluate food safety and food handler hygiene-sanitation in elementary school canteens using Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles. A cross-sectional observational framework was developed to assess prerequisite hygiene practices, food-handler behavior, process flow, potential biological, chemical, and physical hazards, and critical control points (CCPs). Because actual field observations were not provided, the Results section uses an explicitly synthetic dataset representing 12 elementary school canteens and 36 food handlers solely to demonstrate the proposed analysis. In the synthetic analysis, overall hygiene-sanitation compliance was 72.4%, with lower compliance in hand hygiene, separation of raw and cooked foods, temperature monitoring, and documentation. Hazard analysis identified cooking, hot holding, cooling/storage, and reheating as process steps requiring enhanced control, with cooking and hot holding modeled as principal CCPs for high-risk menu items. The illustrative findings indicate how HACCP-based evaluation can integrate routine hygiene-sanitation assessment with process-specific hazard control. Empirical studies using direct observation, temperature verification, microbiological testing, and documented corrective actions are required before conclusions can be drawn about actual school canteens.