Knowledge, perception and practice of food hygiene among residents of Edu Local Government Area, Kwara State, Nigeria

Introduction: Many inappropriate hygiene practices such as poor personal and environmental hygiene, inadequate storage of food, improper preparation and cooking are known to compromise the safety of food. This Study assessed the knowledge, perceptions and practices of food hygiene among residents in Edu Local Government Area of Kwara state. Methods: This was descriptive cross-sectional study design that employed a multistage sampling technique. The data was analyzed using SPSS (version 21). The level of significance was set at a p-value of <0.05 and 95% confidence interval. Results: The mean and standard deviation of age of the study participants were 37.6 ± 12.5 years. The findings revealed an adequate knowledge (94.9%) and perception (99.0%) on food hygiene, but the practice was very poor; as only about three-quarter (31.2%) had good practice of food hygiene. On bivariate analysis, only sex (p=0.013) and tribe were significantly associated with good practice of food hygiene. Conclusion and Recommendations: Implementing health education and awareness campaigns that target behaviour change with focus on food handling, storage, and preparation is crucial for improving residents' practices and encouraging better hygiene habits at home