Abstract
Factors contributing to foodborne illnesses in Malaysia were identified as insanitary food handling procedures and lack of hygiene in food preparation area. Food safety at home is a critical point as consumers represent the final step in food preparation and prevention of foodborne diseases. This study aims to investigate the food safety knowledge, attitude and self-reported practices among consumers in Malaysia. An online survey was conducted, and data were analysed using descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis. A model linking food safety knowledge and attitude and their direct effects on practices were confirmed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The proposed model fulfilled the goodness of fit indices and is deemed acceptable. Respondents demonstrate good level of food safety knowledge and positive attitudes and self-reported practices. Food safety knowledge has a negative and insignificant relationship with food safety practices (β1 = -0.284, p>0.05) while attitude significantly affects food safety practices (β1 = 0.534, p<0.05). The findings clearly indicate that food safety knowledge does not directly affect food safety practices This is also the first study to provide new empirical findings on thermometer usage among consumers in Malaysia. This study establishes an important point of reference where consumers use visual appearances to determine if food is thoroughly cooked and practice washing raw chicken prior to cooking. Food safety practices at home play a critical role in protecting consumers in reducing risks of foodborne illnesses.
Highlights
The World Health Organization estimated that foodborne diseases caused 600 million cases and 420,000 deaths annually of which 30% of the fatalities occur among children under 5 years of age [1]
Numerous studies had been conducted among food handlers at food service operations, food safety at home is another critical point as consumers represent the final step in food preparation and prevention of foodborne diseases
Apart from K4 and A2 as discussed below, the empirical results in this study revealed that respondents have good level of food safety knowledge, positive attitude and self-reported practices in safe food handling
Summary
The World Health Organization estimated that foodborne diseases caused 600 million cases and 420,000 deaths annually of which 30% of the fatalities occur among children under 5 years of age [1]. Attitude and practices among consumers in Malaysia at educational institutions and schools. This has led to an increase of food safety studies on knowledge, attitude and practices among commercial food handlers in Malaysia [3,4,5,6,7]. These studies consistently revealed that food handlers were unaware of different foodborne pathogens and had poor to average knowledge of hygienic practices in food handling. Consumers who misinterpret foodborne disease symptoms or treat food poisoning symptoms as transient inconveniences represent the reasons why consumers do not often seek medical treatment [9, 11, 12]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
