Centre for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Genscherallee 3, Bonn, D-53113, Germany.
Institute for Food and Resource Economics (ILR), University of Bonn, Nussallee 19, Bonn, D-53115, Germany.
BMC Public Health. 2024 Mar 25;24(1):888. doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-18297-0.
Food safety is integral to food security and is increasingly becoming a significant concern in the urban areas of Africa, which are rapidly growing in population. In the case of Ghana, many urban households depend on traditional open-air markets for most of their food needs. However, these urban food markets also depend on domestic food supply chains, which are prone to risks, including poor hygiene and sanitation and weather seasonality. Food safety compliance has associated costs which increase the unit cost of food products. Thus, higher food price is a risk factor to food availability and accessibility-fundamental pillars of food security.
We use food microbial data and food retail data from food market surveys in major cities in Ghana to assess the safety of selected fresh food commodities and how retailers handle the food products they sell. Additionally, based on a two-wave balanced panel household data, we used fixed effects Poisson and Correlated Random Effects (CRE) Probit models to estimate the effect of weather seasonality on the incidence of diarrhoea and urban household dietary diversity score (HDDS). A final sample of 609 households and 565 market respondents participated in the study.
Our findings show that selected food samples tested positive for Staphylococcus aureus and E.coli and had aflatoxin B1 levels above 5.0 ppb. Additionally, the household incidence of diarrhoea/vomiting, a proxy for food safety status, is higher in the dry season. In the dry season, the household incidence of diarrhoea/vomiting increases on average by a probability of 38% points compared to the rainy season. Regarding HDDS, the average HDDS is 7.3; however, we did not find the effect of seasonality on HDDS to be significant.
Although urban food availability and household dietary diversity are not challenges for many urban households, food safety is a challenge in the major food markets in Ghanaian cities and is associated with weather seasonality. Foods available in traditional open-air markets are not always safe for consumption, undermining households' food security. Weak enforcement of food safety regulations contributes to the food safety challenges in Ghanaian urban food markets.
食品安全是食品安全的组成部分，在人口快速增长的非洲城市地区，食品安全越来越受到关注。在加纳，许多城市家庭主要依靠传统的露天市场来满足他们的大部分食物需求。然而，这些城市食品市场也依赖于国内食品供应链，这些供应链容易受到风险的影响，包括卫生和环境卫生条件差以及天气季节性。食品安全合规性会带来相关成本，从而增加食品产品的单位成本。因此，较高的食品价格是影响食品供应和可及性的风险因素，这是食品安全的两个基本支柱。
我们使用来自加纳主要城市食品市场调查的食品微生物数据和食品零售数据，评估选定新鲜食品商品的安全性以及零售商如何处理他们销售的食品。此外，基于一个两波平衡面板家庭数据，我们使用固定效应泊松和相关随机效应（CRE）概率模型来估计天气季节性对腹泻发生率和城市家庭膳食多样性评分（HDDS）的影响。最终有 609 户家庭和 565 名市场受访者参与了这项研究。
我们的研究结果表明，选定的食品样本检测出金黄色葡萄球菌和大肠杆菌呈阳性，黄曲霉毒素 B1 含量超过 5.0 ppb。此外，腹泻/呕吐的家庭发病率，作为食品安全状况的一个指标，在旱季更高。在旱季，与雨季相比，腹泻/呕吐的家庭发病率平均增加了 38%。关于 HDDS，平均 HDDS 为 7.3；然而，我们没有发现季节性对 HDDS 的影响是显著的。
尽管城市食物供应和家庭饮食多样性对许多城市家庭来说不是挑战，但食品安全在加纳城市的主要食品市场是一个挑战，并且与天气季节性有关。传统露天市场上供应的食品并不总是安全可食用的，这破坏了家庭的食品安全。食品安全法规执行不力导致加纳城市食品市场面临食品安全挑战。
