Evaluation of Consumers’ Understanding and Adherence of Food Risks Information
Abstract
Food risk communication which aims at food risk reduction, involves exchange of information among consumers of food, food safety scientists and regulators as well as food risk managers and risk communicators. Thus, the understanding of risk information is paramount to food safety. The objective of this study was to evaluate the understanding of food consumers on food risks and their adherence to food risk information in an urban community; the Tema and Ashaiman Municipalities. The method involved administration of questionnaire designed to study the regressional model of the impact of the variables: type of consumer (X1), source of food health education (X2), point of food purchase (X3), evaluation of regulators (X4), and age (X5), on food risk adherence. For each of the variables, a set of questions were set with variable weighted scores which accumulated as “low” (0.0-4.9); “average” (5.0-6.9) and “high” (7-10). Subsequently, regressional analysis was run in Excel (Microsoft) and Palisade @Risk, to obtain the coefficients (1-5) of the variables of the regression model, and their central tendency values and percentiles. A regression model of the form Y= 1X1 + 2X2 + 3X3 + 4X4 + 5X5, where Y is the total food risk adherence of the study population, and X1 to X5 the individual variables, was finally obtained. The results showed that respondents poorly (0.0-4.9) adhered to food risk information. This implies consumers poorly applied food risk information to their everyday food choices. Contributing to this observation is the fact that the respondents performed averagely in the category of “source of food health education” and “point of food purchase” which are important determinants of risk adherence. Age was seen to influence risk adherence because the younger respondents had better adherence compared to the older folks. The results suggest that consumers in the study area should be educated to adhere properly to food risk information to safeguard their health. Thus, risk managers should endeavor to communicate health risk information related to food to influence food choices positively in an expectedly urban area.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Department of Food Science and Technology, College of Science, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Food Quality Management,