Food Safety Knowledge and Practice among Pregnant Women: A Cross Sectional Study in Ghana
Open accessAbstract
Background: Foodborne disease is a growing public health concern worldwide, especially among vulnerable populations. Improved understanding of food safety practices is fundamental to addressing the phenomenon. This study aimed to assess the sociodemographic factors influencing knowledge and practice of food safety among pregnant women in Ghana. Design and Method: This is a cross-sectional study. Selfadministered questionnaires were distributed in person to participants during data collection. Data was entered and analysed in Epi Data version 3.1 and Stata 12, respectively. Chi square test and Fischer's exact test were used to determine association between independent variables and outcome variables (knowledge and practice). Binary logistic regression was used to test the strength of the association between independent and outcome variables at 95% confident interval. A p-value of 0.05 or less was considered significant. Results: Findings were: about 87.06% of the respondents had satisfactory knowledge on food safety; approximately 58.2% of respondents knew how to prevent foodborne disease but about 51.18% had unsatisfactory practice about food safety; about 28.2% of participants had experienced foodborne disease before in the past 6 months. Also, employment status and period of pregnancy were found to have significant influence on food safety knowledge whereas educational level and employment status also had significant influence on food safety practice. Conclusion: Improved understanding about food safety will not necessarily lead to high food safety practices. In the quest to effectively prevent foodborne disease, we recommend an increase in awareness creation regarding foodborne disease and its associated socio-demographic risk factors like employment status, period of pregnancy and educational level.
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Studies observed strong awareness of foodborne contamination risk among Ghanaian meat consumers and pregnant women.
“Similarly, studies [50,51] observed strong awareness of foodborne contamination risk among Ghanaian meat consumers and pregnant women.”
From Food Safety Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) of Urban Consumers in Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LLMICs): A Scoping Review (2026) · cites this paper as [51]
The Results (Knowledge level on food safety) report that 87.06% of the pregnant participants had satisfactory food-safety knowledge and 69.4% were aware of foodborne diseases. However, the Discussion says 48.2% did not consider themselves at risk, so the source supports broad awareness among pregnant women but not unequivocally strong awareness of their own contamination risk. The Ghanaian meat-consumer finding appears to belong to the other citation in the sentence, not this study. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredOther studies found no significant link between education and food safety outcomes.
“Other studies [48,50,51,53,58,67] found no significant link between education and food safety outcomes.”
From Food Safety Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) of Urban Consumers in Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LLMICs): A Scoping Review (2026) · cites this paper as [51]
The Discussion reports that education level had no influence on food safety knowledge among the pregnant women studied; Table 4 likewise shows no significant association (p = 0.174). But the Discussion and Conclusion report a significant association between education level and food safety practice, so the broader claim does not hold for both outcomes in this study. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredA significant number of studies revealed that consumers often possessed adequate theoretical knowledge regarding food safety but failed to apply this knowledge in their daily routine.
“a significant number of studies [46,48,49,50,51,55,61] revealed that consumers often possessed adequate theoretical knowledge regarding food safety—such as the need for handwashing or proper storage temperatures—but failed to apply this knowledge in their daily routine.”
From Food Safety Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) of Urban Consumers in Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LLMICs): A Scoping Review (2026) · cites this paper as [51]
The Conclusion reports satisfactory food-safety knowledge but unsatisfactory practices among the pregnant women studied in Ghana, supporting the central knowledge–practice gap. This single study does not establish how often consumers generally show that gap, and the cited passages do not show knowledge of proper storage temperatures. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredMarital status and employment status also showed significant associations in a few studies.
“Marital status and employment status also showed significant associations in a few studies (e.g., [49,51,63]).”
From Food Safety Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) of Urban Consumers in Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LLMICs): A Scoping Review (2026) · cites this paper as [51]
The Conclusion reports significant associations between employment status and both food safety knowledge and practice among pregnant women in Ghana. The Results tables and demographic characteristics do not report marital status, so this source supports the employment-status part of the sentence but not the marital-status part. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredTen studies relied solely on self-reporting.
“In contrast, 10 studies relied solely on self-reporting [49,51,53,54,57,58,65,70,71,72].”
From Food Safety Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) of Urban Consumers in Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LLMICs): A Scoping Review (2026) · cites this paper as [51]
Out of 26 studies, 22 had both male and female participants, four had only female participants, and one did not specify any sex of the participants.
“Out of 26, 22 studies had both male and female participants, four had only female participants [47,51,52,65], and one did not specify any sex of the participants [61].”
From Food Safety Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) of Urban Consumers in Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LLMICs): A Scoping Review (2026) · cites this paper as [51]
Ten studies measured both food safety knowledge and practices.
“Ten studies [47,49,51,53,54,58,64,69,70,72] measured both food safety knowledge and practices, while three studies measured both knowledge and attitudes [63,67,68].”
From Food Safety Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) of Urban Consumers in Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LLMICs): A Scoping Review (2026) · cites this paper as [51]
Several studies reported good or satisfactory knowledge levels.
“Several studies reported good or satisfactory knowledge levels [49,50,51,52,57,58,60,63,68], while other studies described knowledge as average or mixed [47,55,61,62,67,71].”
From Food Safety Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) of Urban Consumers in Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LLMICs): A Scoping Review (2026) · cites this paper as [51]
In Ghana, more than half of pregnant women engaged in unsafe food handling behaviours, including unsafe thawing methods, inadequate hand hygiene, and wearing accessories while preparing food.
“For example, in Ghana [51] more than half of pregnant women engaged in unsafe food handling behaviours, including unsafe thawing methods, inadequate hand hygiene, and wearing accessories while preparing food.”
From Food Safety Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) of Urban Consumers in Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LLMICs): A Scoping Review (2026) · cites this paper as [51]
Most of these studies (n = 9) described practices as poor or unsatisfactory.
“Most of these studies (n = 9) described practices as poor or unsatisfactory [51,52,53,54,55,64,66,69,72].”
From Food Safety Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) of Urban Consumers in Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LLMICs): A Scoping Review (2026) · cites this paper as [51]
While some studies reported good or satisfactory levels of knowledge, ten studies found low or poor levels and substantial knowledge or awareness gaps, while six studies showed average or mixed findings.
“While some studies (e.g., [49,51,60]) reported good or satisfactory levels of knowledge, ten studies (e.g., [53,65]) found low or poor levels and substantial knowledge or awareness gaps, while six studies [47,55,61,62,67,71] showed average or mixed findings.”
From Food Safety Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) of Urban Consumers in Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LLMICs): A Scoping Review (2026) · cites this paper as [51]
Employment status was significantly associated with knowledge and practice in several contexts, including among pregnant women, general consumers, and university students.
“Employment status was significantly associated with knowledge and practice in several contexts, including among pregnant women [51], general consumers [62], and university students [54,58].”
From Food Safety Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) of Urban Consumers in Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LLMICs): A Scoping Review (2026) · cites this paper as [51]
Seven studies showed that respondents' knowledge was better than their self-reported practices.
“However, seven studies showed that respondents’ knowledge was better than their self-reported practices [49,51,52,53,54,58,64].”
From Food Safety Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) of Urban Consumers in Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LLMICs): A Scoping Review (2026) · cites this paper as [51]
Other studies found no significant gender-based differences in knowledge or attitude.
“while others found no significant gender-based differences in knowledge or attitude [51,57,58,60,62,67,68,70].”
From Food Safety Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) of Urban Consumers in Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LLMICs): A Scoping Review (2026) · cites this paper as [51]
The Results (Demographic characteristics of respondents; page unavailable) describe a sample of 170 pregnant women, and the Discussion addresses associations between food-safety knowledge and factors such as age and education. Searches for gender- or sex-based differences and attitudes found no passage comparing genders on either outcome. (LLM, conf=0.78)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIncome level was a significant predictor of food safety knowledge, attitudes, and practices in some studies, particularly in Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Ghana.
“Income level was also a significant predictor in some studies, particularly in Nigeria [48], Ethiopia [52], and Ghana [51,66]”
From Food Safety Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) of Urban Consumers in Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LLMICs): A Scoping Review (2026) · cites this paper as [51]
The Results and Conclusion identify employment status, pregnancy period, and education as significant factors in food safety knowledge or practice among pregnant women in Ghana; they do not identify income level as a predictor. A search for income level and related economic terms found only a Discussion reference to another study mentioning poor economic status, not a significant income-level association in this study. The cited paper does not report attitudes as an outcome. (LLM, conf=0.75)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Choudhury, S., Medina-Lara, A., Bi, A. Z., Ricarte, P., Morrish, N., & Veettil, P. C. (2026) · Foods · doi:10.3390/foods15081381 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“While some studies (e.g., [49,51,60]) reported good or satisfactory levels of knowledge, ten studies (e.g., [53,65]) found low or poor levels and substantial knowledge or awareness gaps, while six studies [47,55,61,62,67,71] showed average or mixed findings.”
Influential
- Authors
- Asiedu, E., Assan, A., & Dormechele, W.
- Affiliations
- Global Policy and Advocacy Network (GLOOPLAN), Accra
- Navrongo Health Research Centre (GH)
- Corresponding author
- Asiedu, Emmanuel
- Assan, Abraham
- Dormechele, William
- Venue
- Journal of Public Health Research
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2021-06-24
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 3
- ISSN
- 2279-9036 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8477233
- OpenAlex
- W3165206895
- Cited by
- 12
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3
- FWCI
- 0.75
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Public Health Research (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Journal of Public Health Research (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Food Safety and Hygiene
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Salmonella and Campylobacter epidemiology
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Keywords
- food safety knowledge, food safety practices, pregnant women, food poisoning, sociodemographic factors, employment status, educational attainment, Ghana
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