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KNOWLEDGE AND SELF-REPORTED BEHAVIOR REGARDING FOOD SAFETY AMONG REPRODUCTIVE AGE WOMEN

Hafiz Muhammad Muzammil, Aneeqa Bakhtiyar, Anam Ibrahim

Background: According to the WHO (2007), the increase in the incidence of food-borne diseases is a Public Health concern in both developed and developing countries. Material and Methods: It was a cross sectional descriptive epidemiological study. The study was conducted in Quaid-e-Azam Medical College Girls Hostel, Bahawalpur. The study was conducted on females of reproductive age group. A questionnaire was designed, tested, finalized and then used for data collection. Our questionnaire consisted of three parts. First Part included questions about socio demographic profile, Second Part carried questions regarding knowledge and third comprised questions on self-reported behavior on food safety. Data was coded and entered in SPSS version 21. Interpretation has been presented in the form of tables and figures. Results: The study found that 88.7% of respondents had good knowledge of food safety, whereas, 11.3% merely had satisfactory knowledge of food safety. The data collected from respondents revealed that only 39.3% respondents fell in good category of practice / self-reported behavior regarding food safety. We found a statistically significant association (P=0.001) between education of respondents and knowledge regarding food safety. There is a statistically significant association between respondent’s education (P=0.009), respondents’ occupation (p=0.043), respondents monthly family income (0.020) and practice / self-reported behavior regarding food safety. Conclusion: The study found a significant correlation between education of the female and knowledge regarding food safety on Phi test, Cramer’s test, Pearson’s R and Spearman correlation. Moreover, a significant correlation was found between educations of the female, occupation of the female, family’s monthly income and self-reported behavior regarding food safety on chi-square test for independence. Key Words: Knowledge, Practice, Food Safety, Reproductive Age Women

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