According to the Ethiopian Central Statistics Authority report, in 2004; there were aboutrn436,726 orphan children by both parents throughout the country. Among those, Addis Ababarnhad 29,926 orphan children by both parents in the same year (ECSA, 2004) though recentrnstatistical information could not be found. This indicates that a significant proportion of therntotal population have problem of having adequate food, shelter and clothes. However, in therncapital city of Ethiopia, there are 99 orphanage centers that have signed agreement with thernBureau of Women & Childrenâ€™s Affairs of A.A. Plenty of children orphan by both parentsrnare still in trouble of having their basic necessities. In most cases the centers might givernattention only to the availability of food but not of its safety. Thus, this study was designed torndetermine the microbiological safety of the RTE foods, the prevalence of intestinal parasiticrninfections among food handlers and the overall hygienic practices/facilities in foodrnpreparation.rnA cross-sectional study was conducted from February to May 2010. Four orphanage centersrnwere recruited for the study by simple random sampling technique. Standardized andrnstructured questionnaire was used to gather information on the overall sanitary conditions ofrnthe centers. For the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections, all (40) food handlers werernparticipated in stool examination through DFS technique. A total of thirty six RTE foodrnsamples were also collected from the centers and examined for microbial quality at EHNRIrnfood microbiology laboratory in Addis Ababa. Standard methods were used to determinernAPC, total and fecal Colforms, Staphylococci, Enterobacteriaceae, Enterococci, and Lacticrnacid bacteria. Predominant colonies isolated from APC plates were characterized to differentrnbacterial groups by morphological and physiological tests. EPI Info version 6 and SPSSrnstatistical packages were employed for data management.rnThe findings of this study showed that 14(35%) of the food handlers from all (four)rnorphanage centers were infected with one of either protozoan or helmintheic parasites. Thernmost common intestinal parasitic infections encountered among these infected individualsrnwere A. lumbricoides (50%), followed by E. histolytica (42.86%), G. lamblia (21.43%) andrn10rnTaenia species (7.14%). Improper food storage, poor personal hygiene and food handlingrnpractices of the food handlers and poor sanitary facilities were also the major defectsrnobserved. Fifty percent of the floor and 75% of the walls and ceilings of the kitchens werernfound in poor sanitary conditions. Accordingly, the predominant groups of bacteria isolatedrnfrom the APC plates were Bacillus, Staphylococcus and Enterobacteriaceae.rnFinally it was concluded that the unacceptable limit of Staphylococcus andrnenterobacteriaceae in RTE foods indicating poor hygienic practices of the food handlers withrnimproper temperature control and high prevalence of intestinal parasites among food handlersrnwere of unacceptable quality and safety of food in the centers.