Rural women's knowledge and practices about food safety during the COVID-19 pandemic in El-Beheira and Alexandria Governorates in Egypt

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study is to determine the level of knowledge and practices of Rural women regarding food safety during the COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt. Data were collected from 183 respondents using a questionnaire administered in person while taking the necessary precautionary measures. The level of respondents' knowledge and practices in food safety was determined by assessing their knowledge and practices in food purchase, preservation, storage, preparation, and cooking. The results showed that the majority of respondents had moderate and low levels of knowledge (74.3% and 9.3%, respectively) and practice (59.6% and 27.8%, respectively) regarding food safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, significant correlations at 0.05 and 0.01 were found between respondents' degree of knowledge about food safety during COVID-19 and their educational level and the number of household appliances owned by their family, respectively. As well as a significant correlation at 0.01 between respondents' degree of practice of food safety during COVID-19 and respondents' age, number of years of marriage, number of family members, and the number of household appliances owned by the respondent's family.