COVID-19 pandemic is considered unprecedented threat facing the world. Even there are no scientific evidences about the transmission of COVID-19 from foods but there is a risk for people working in food establishments to transmit the virus. The national and international changes in health regulations, guidelines, and recommendations that have been issed to alleviate the incidence of COVID-19 may improve the prerequisite programs of food safety systems in small food enterprises in Palestine. Several small food enterprises have poor the prerequisite programs of food safety systems in Palestine. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on prerequisite programs of food safety systems.The study was conducted on 30 small food enterprises where selected from three governorate in northen Palestine. Our finding showed that there was significant improvement in wearing mask and hair net during food preparation and processing after COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, it was found that cleaning and sanitzation frequency for food contact surfaces were improved. The pandemic had no effect on food preparation practices. There was about 4% improvements in personal hygiene facilities after pandemic including protective clothes and hanging lockers. In conclusion, the pandemic had great positive impact on several the prerequisite programs of food safety systems.

Keywords: COVID-19, prerequisite programs, safety, food.

Conference Title

5th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COVID-19 STUDIES

Conference Country

Turkey

Conference Date

Sept. 24, 2021 - Sept. 25, 2021

Conference Sponsor

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Additional Info

Conference Website