Assessment of Food Safety Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Commercial Salad Vegetable Farmers in the Eastern Region of Ghana

Food safety risks, like poor water quality and handling, threaten public health in Ghana's Eastern Region, where farmers' food safety knowledge and practices are unclear. The study aimed to evaluate salad vegetable farmers' food safety knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) through a descriptive, cross-sectional survey. Face-to-face interviews and questionnaires were conducted with 400 farmers, yielding N=390 usable responses. The peer-reviewed, pilot-tested questionnaire covered demographics, food safety knowledge, attitudes, and hygiene practices. The study highlights positive practices among farmers, such as farm access restrictions (70%) and removing dirt from harvested salad vegetables (77%), but also identifies gaps in essential practices like treating irrigation water and manure sterilization. The lack of toilet facilities (12%) on most farms poses a significant risk of contamination. There is good awareness of proper handling and hygiene practices, but chemical contamination (76%) receives the most attention, while physical (37%) and microbial contamination (18%) awareness needs improvement. Barriers included inadequate resources (51%), time constraints (53%), and poor record-keeping (64%). Significant (p<0.05) positive correlations between KAP suggest that enhancing knowledge and fostering positive attitudes through regular training can improve food safety practices among salad vegetable farmers.