Evaluation of Food Safety among Rural Households: A Study of Measurements, Determinants and Policy Implications

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to explore the rural households` food safety level in Punjab province of Pakistan. The participants were 200 randomly selected rural house-holds. Local knowledge, traditions, culture, and experiences were taken into con-sideration, and 44 food safety items were developed, and classified considering the World Health Organization's "Five Keys" for food safety. A food safety index was developed based on factor analysis of these keys, namely "Separate," "Keep clean," "Well-cooked," "Keep at safe temperature" and "Safe water and raw material." Before application of ordered logistic regression procedure, the households were clustered into low, medium and high food safety groups. The overall average food safety index score was calculated as 0.59. The results of the regression analysis showed that education level of household-head, education of woman handling and cooking food, off-farm occupation of household-head, operational land, knowledge of foodborne-illness, knowledge of cross-contamination, knowledge of danger-zone, quality of drinking water, development level, drainage system, and house conditions influenced the food safety level significantly. The education programs at local dispensaries in local language, rebuilding roads, maintenance of drainage system, and provision of proper garbage disposing system should be ensured in the rural area to increase food safety level.