Exploring food safety knowledge and practices in Lebanon

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Food Safety
• Socioeconomics

Background:

• Lebanon's economic and financial crises negatively impact quality-of-life, including food safety and security.
• Understanding food safety knowledge and practices is crucial in the Lebanese context.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess food safety knowledge and practices among Lebanese adults.
• To explore associations between food safety knowledge/practices and sociodemographic/economic factors.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional online study of 412 Lebanese adults (≥18 years).
• Data collected on sociodemographics, food safety knowledge/practices, food insecurity, and financial wellbeing.
• Logistic regression analyses were used to identify associations.

Main Results:

• Suboptimal food safety knowledge and practices were found in nearly half the sample.
• Higher income and university education correlated with better knowledge of contaminated food characteristics.
• Marital status and age were associated with specific food safety practices (reheating meat, managing leftovers).
• Food security status did not significantly correlate with food safety measures.

Conclusions:

• Evidence-based public health interventions are needed to improve food safety knowledge and practices in Lebanon.
• Targeted interventions can help reduce the incidence of foodborne diseases.