Food Safety Practices and Stunting among School-Age Children-An Observational Study Finding from an Urban Slum of Bangladesh.

Food safety incorporates the handling, preparation, and storage of food materials in ways that prevent foodborne illness. We aimed to investigate the typical food safety practices in a Bangladeshi slum context and to explore if stunting among school-age children was associated with various components of food safety. We analysed the MAL-ED birth cohort data from the Bangladesh site. A total of 265 healthy children were enrolled in the study; we could follow up and collect food safety-related data from 187 participants. The average age of the children was 6.5 years (standard deviation or SD 0.04) and 49% of them were female. About 26% of the children were stunted. In our bivariate analysis, caregivers' handwashing practice after using the toilet, treatment of drinking water, presence of insects/pests in the cooking area, and child's eating ready-made/street food more than three times per day were significantly associated with stunting. After adjusting for pertinent factors, treatment of drinking water (adjusted odds ratio or AOR = 2.50, 95% confidence interval or CI: 1.03, 6.05), and child's eating ready-made/street food more than three times/day (AOR = 2.34, 95%CI: 1.06, 5.15) remained significantly associated with stunting. Diverse aspects of food safety practices have a substantial association with stunting among school-age children living in an unhygienic slum environment in Dhaka, Bangladesh.