(P05-008-23) Alignment Between Food-Safety Policies and Perspectives of Consumers in Three African Countries

Objectives: Frequent foodborne disease in low-and middle-income countries highlights limitations of food safety policies in reducing exposure to hazardous foods. Limited policy effectiveness reflects neglect of consumers’ perspectives of food safety, which emerge from their past and current interactions with food value chains and their food environments. Policies must align with consumers’ perspectives to address food safety issues effectively. This study aimed to evaluate whether and how policies align with consumers’ perspectives about food safety, drawing on the elucidation of the intents and instruments of food policies.

Methods: Consumers’ concerns and assurances about food safety were identified through thematic analysis of transcripts from three Drivers of Food Choice projects in Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania. Policies with information about food safety were selected (Ghana=40, Kenya=54, Tanzania=44). Policy intents and instruments were compared to consumers’ food-safety-related concerns and assurances to determine whether and how policies and consumers’ perspectives aligned and whether policies addressing food safety used communication of information as an instrument to provide consumers with assurance about the safety of their foods.

Results: Policies with stated intents to ensure better health, safe environments, and food and water security were broadly aligned with consumers’ food safety assurances. Evidence of misalignment between food safety policies and consumers' perspectives of food safety occurred when policies failed to consider mechanisms needed to effectively implement policy. For example, false assumptions over the capacity of policy implementors (e.g., local government's commitment to enforcing food safety regulations) increased consumers' concerns about food safety after experiencing inconsistencies in regulation enforcement.

Conclusions: Understanding the interactions between policies addressing food safety and consumers’ perspectives about food safety is important for designing policies that account for and can effectively influence and shape consumers’ food choice behaviors to reduce risks of food-borne disease.

Funding Sources: Drivers of Food Choice Competitive Grants Program, funded by the United Kingdom Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.