Sanitation management of cooks in childcare centers in South Korea according to working duration and the type of childcare center: Importance-Performance Analysis

This study was performed to obtain preliminary data for improving the quality of food service sanitary management in childcare centers by investigating the factors to be managed by priority and finding related personnel education strategies using Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) and IPA Grid analysis in South Korea. A survey using a self-administered questionnaire was conducted with the cooks at all 190 childcare centers registered in Yongin City Center for Children’s Food Service Management. Among 123 questionnaires collected, 115 were used for the final analysis. The questionnaire consisted of 15questions using a structured 5-point Likert scale, based on 4 areas of individual sanitation, food ingredient sanitation, production sanitation, and facility equipment and kitchen utensil sanitation. The priority items to be managed was determined as ‘unable to work when having symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea or wounds on hands’ by IPA Grid analysis. Sanitation management was perceived to be less important by those cooks having worked for more than 10 years as opposed to those having worked for less than 10 years (p < 0.05). Both perceived importance and performance scores in sanitary management of those working at home-type childcare centers were significantly lower than those working at national or public childcare centers (p < 0.05) in the area of food ingredient sanitary management. In conclusion, there were substantive differences in the importance and performance levels of the sanitary management of cooks depending on their working duration and the type of childcare center they were employed at. The results suggest a need to prioritize education and support programs customized for cooks working at home-type childcare centers along with those with relatively long careers.