ASSESSMENT OF FOOD SAFETY MEASURES AMONG PORK MARKETERS IN IBADAN NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF OYO STATE
Abstract
The study was conducted to assess the food safety measures among pork marketers in Ibadan North local government area of Oyo state. Snowball sampling techniques was used in the selection of respondents. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution and percentages while inferential statistics such as chi-square and Pearson Product Movement Correlation (PPMC) were used to analyse the hypothesis of the study. The result indicated that 71.7% of the respondents were female while 28.3% were male. The result also revealed that the mean age of the respondents to be 42 years, while 79.2% of the respondents were married. The Chi-square analysis showed that sex(x2=2.555), marital status(x2=0.202), educational status(x2=0.404), membership of community groups (x2=0.785), and access to credit facilities (x2=0.772) were not significant in determining the food safety measures of pork marketers. It was only buying of pork for marketing (x2=0.029) that was significant in determining the food safety measures of pork marketers. The PPMC result on the respondents' safety practices adopted and their personal characteristics such as age, household size and years of experience were statically not significant. in conclusion, it was revealed that Ibadan North Local Government Area's pork marketers was dominated by women in the study area. There was no significant difference between male and female counterparts. Therefore, it was recommended that Pork marketers' association and government can work hand in hand to educate pork marketers on the hazards of chemical handling and chemical safety measures. Pork marketers staying at proximity can work together as a group and make provision for joint transportation of their meat products to their various destinations and purchase joint storage facilities in other to enjoy economies of scale and invariably reduce meat spoilage and losses in pork marketing.