Self-reported Food Safety Practices Among Adult Consumers in Sibu, Malaysia: A Cross-sectional Study

This research investigated consumers’ self-reported food safety practices, along with their determinants. The cross-sectional survey employed a questionnaire comprised of 16 items to gather data pertaining to food safety practices among consumers in Sibu located at Sarawak. Of the 800 disseminated questionnaires, a total of 623 were completed and returned. We discovered that respondents performed some of the food safety practices poorly; for example, 94.4% of the respondents failed to utilize a thermometer to determine the doneness of cooked meat. In addition, levels of self-reported food safety practices seemed to differ with certain variables, particularly gender (P < 0.05), education level (P < 0.05), number of children in the family (P < 0.05), and frequency with which food was prepared by the respondent at home (P < 0.05). The binary logistic regression modeling method of analysis revealed that female respondents displayed better food handling practices (OR = 21.82; 95% CI: 11.12, 42.81) than males. The results highlight that self-reported food safety practices do play a major role in controlling foodborne diseases (FBDs) by placing the focus on food handling practices in the home. Hence, education concerning food safety must be extended to the entire society.