Influence of food safety concerns on safe food purchasing at rural and urban consumers in Bangladesh

Abstract

Food contamination and food adulteration are widely known public health issues in Bangladesh. This research explores consumers' perceptions of food hazards and safe food purchasing strategies. The study uses data from a survey of 450 primary household food purchasers in an urban supermarket and two traditional bazaars in urban and regional areas. This study explored the differences between consumers in urban and regional areas. The urban supermarket consumers showed more significant concerns about food hazards and safe food purchasing strategies than consumers at the urban and regional bazaars. Urban consumers indicated a higher food safety perception, whereas regional consumers were concerned about food safety deterioration. This study finds that urban supermarket consumers considered biological food hazards more during food purchasing than the regional bazaar. Most of the consumers in this study were concerned about chemical food hazards such as formalin and pesticide residues, and these consumers considered food purchasing factors such as tastes and expiry dates more while purchasing food. On the other hand, consumers concerned about biological hazards emphasised food purchasing place and product origin. Urban and regional bazaar consumers considered prices more than urban supermarket consumers. The study also explores sociodemographic variations, such as women having more concern about chemical food hazards than men and people with less formal education levels showing less concern about food hazards. Therefore, dissemination of safe food knowledge, adequate infrastructure, monitoring, and policymaking are some immediate necessary steps to improve food safety situations and safe food accessibility in Bangladesh.