What drives dairy farm food safety practices in Bangladesh? Evidence from an integrated theory approach

Milk production in Bangladesh has been increasing despite farmers being resource poor. The expansion of commercial milk collection centers has promoted market-oriented production; however, poor food safety practices (FSP) have resulted in disease transmission among cattle and also milk contamination, restricting market access. Therefore, this study examined farm-level FSP among 498 market-oriented dairy farmers operating across diverse agro-climatic zones. Employing partial least squares structural equation modeling within an integrated theoretical framework, the relationships between farmers' knowledge and attitudes, institutional inspections, and constraints and farm resources, with FSP as the primary outcome, were analyzed. The results indicate that knowledge, attitudes and resources significantly enhance the implementation of FSP, although the effect size of farm resources is small. However, constraints related to FSP, such as poor market conditions, uniform pricing policies, and additional safety costs, have a negative effect. These constraints also diminish the overall effectiveness of positive attitudes and knowledge. Trained farmers could use resources to improve FSP, but untrained farmers suffer severely from the negative effects of constraints. Surprisingly, institutional inspections have an insignificant influence on the adoption of FSP. The study recommends targeted training, price incentives, enhanced resources, and the establishment of safety inspection bodies, as well as structural changes to commercial milk collection procedures, to improve food safety and hygiene standards in the Bangladeshi dairy sector.