Bahri, Suhaila (2016) Knowledge, attitude and practice level among UPM staff regarding the presence of boric acid in selected foods. [Project Paper] (Submitted)
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Abstract
Introduction: One type of food additive is food preservative. Preservative is functioning in preventing the food from spoiling due to microorganism, bacteria and fungi. Nowadays, chemical preservatives are also being used and the most effective for a longer shelf-life and are generally foolproof for the preservation process. One of them is boric acid (H₃BO₃). H₃BO₃ is a component of borates has been used as an antiseptic, pesticide and a weak fungicide. Furthermore, it is used for insect control, wood preservatives in the furniture industry, glass industry and also in the medical field. H₃BO₃ was classified under group E carcinogen by the USEPA. Excessive H₃BO₃ can induce some health problems such as coughing, eye irritation, vomiting, and difficulty in breathing and even death. 0bjective:This study aim lo determine the presence of H₃BO₃ in selected food, to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice as well as to associate between knowledge, attitude and practice among the UPM staff.Methodology: This crosssectional study was conducted at Universiti Putra Malaysia. A total of 314 UPM staff were enrolled as respondents. Eight food samples were selected for H₃BO₃ detection by using turmeric paper. A set of questionnaire was used to obtain background information, knowledge, attitude and practice of the respondents. All data were analyzed by using Software Packaging Social Science 22.0 (IBM SPPS). The significant level was set at p<0.05. Result: The study found that, the UPM staff had poor knowledge (71%) regarding boric acid but had a good attitude (89.2%) regarding consuming food which may contain H₃BO₃. It also showed that UPM staffs were seldom user (46.8%) of food which contain boric acid. The knowledge of the respondents was significantly associated with the attitude (r=0.186, p=<0.001) and practice (χ²=46.32,p=<0.001, r=0.227,p=<0.001). Out of eight food samples, only one detected with H3BO3 which was the yellow noodles. The knowledge about illegal food additives can be increased by educational intervention such as consumer campaign and pamphlets. The government should alert with illegal food preservatives in order to maintain healthy consumer. Keywords: Boric acid, Borates, Preservatives, Turmeric Paper, Intervention.
| Item Type: | Project Paper |
|---|---|
| Faculty: | Faculty of Medicine and Health Science |
| Depositing User: | Mr Muhamad Fazril Awang |
| Date Deposited: | 23 Nov 2022 03:25 |
| Last Modified: | 23 Nov 2022 03:25 |
| URI: | http://psaspb.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/377 |
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