Food safety practices of individuals before and after the emergence of COVID-19

Background: COVID-19 had a detrimental impact on food security worldwide. However, little is known about how COVID-19 influenced food safety practices. Current literature indicates positive and negative impacts, yet the real impact has not been corroborated, particularly in under-resourced countries. The overarching objective of this study was to examine the direct and indirect impact of COVID-19 on the food safety practices of individuals in Ethiopia.<br><br>

Method: A retrospective survey was used to collect information related to the food safety practices of individuals, both before and after COVID-19. The survey was conducted in one metropolitan (Addis Ababa) and three regional (Dessie, Kombolcha, and Debre Birhan) cities of Ethiopia. The food buyers in the selected cities were randomly selected based on their place in queue in selected food shops. An equal number of participants were surveyed from metropolitan and regional cities. <br><br>

Result: Of the 396 sampled individuals, 51.5% were female and the remaining 48.5% were male. The ordinal logistic regression analysis indicated that educational level had a statistically significant effect on the pooled food safety practices of individuals, before and after the emergence of COVID-19. Similarly, the type of work for income generation influenced individuals’ food safety practices both pre- and post COVID-19. Participants’ location and living arrangement/family size of participants were significantly associated with their food safety practices before the emergence of COVID-19 only. During both pre- and post-COVID-19, all cleaning-related predictive variables had a significant association with the food safety practice of individuals with the odds of less than one. Among cooking-related practices, cooking raw food before consumption had a statistically significant association with the food safety practices of individuals.<br><br>

Conclusion: The food safety practices of individuals were improved during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to pre-pandemic practices. This might be due to COVID-19 prevention enforcement measures and restrictions which increased food safety awareness. Improved food safety practices arising from COVID-19 are recommended to continue to maintain and promote future health and well-being.