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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
In pregnant women listeriosis may cause abortion, foetal death or neonatal morbidity in the form of
septicaemia and meningitis. Improved education concerning the disease, its transmission and prevention
measures have been identified as a pressing need. The aim of this study was to evaluate the food safety
knowledge and practices among pregnant women in Portugal, giving particular relevance to listeriosis.
For this purpose, a written questionnaire was constructed and answered by 956 women. Half of the
respondents considered they had received a sufficient amount of information on food safety during
pregnancy. This information was mainly provided from their doctors, who were considered the most
competent to give this information. Although 32.3% of women interviewed had not changed their habits
of preparation and cooking foods after becoming pregnant, the greater the amount of information
received the more effective the change of habits was. A significant number of women avoided the
consumption of foods considered to be high risk, however, for 32.0% of these women these foods were
only avoided in meals taken outside home. The amount of information received influenced the foods
avoided. Only 12.2% of the women interviewed had heard about listeriosis and, 47.0% of these did not
know about the problems it can cause.Women who have had three or more pregnancies were those that
most frequently reported not having received information or having received little information. These
women also demonstrated less knowledge about listeriosis. The larger number of pregnancies corresponded
with less economic resources and less education of the respondents. Women showed plenty of
interest in receiving information about listeriosis; doctors and written information in flyers or in the
Pregnancy bulletin provided by the State Medical Service were the main sources of information referred.
It appears that planning is required, to raise awareness amongst health professionals of the need for food
safety education for pregnant women.
Description
Keywords
Listeriosis Pregnancy Food safety awareness Listeriosis awareness
Pedagogical Context
Citation
MATEUS, Teresa ; MAIA, Rui L. ; TEIXEIRA, Paula - Awareness of listeriosis among Portuguese pregnant women. Food Control. ISSN 0956-7135. Vol. 46 (2014), p. 513–519
Publisher
Elsevier