FOOD SAFETY KNOWLEDGE OF FARMING HOUSEHOLDS IN NORTH-CENTRAL, NIGERIA

Abstract

The risk of exposure of farming households to unsafe food practices may result to food borne diseases which can have major economic impact on individuals, farming business and even the country. Relying on this, the study assessed the food safety knowledge of farming households in North-Central Nigeria. Multi- stage simple random sampling technique was used to select 256 farming households in the study area. Structured questionnaire complimented with Interview schedule was used to elicit data from the respondents. The responses were analyzed using descriptive statistic. The result of the study showed an economic viable farming households having low literacy level. The major causal factors of food borne diseases among the farming households were poor hygiene; dirty water and faeces/defecating in the open. . It was observed that the farming household in the study area had adequate knowledge on almost all the food safety practices and adopted the safety measures based on the mean benchmark. There is need to motivate the farming households in the study area to enhance adoption of food safety practices so as to reduce the level of vulnerability of farming households to food borne diseases.