| Literature DB >> 34972145 |
Zhe Liu1, Anthony N Mutukumira2, Cong Shen1.
Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationships of food safety knowledge, attitude and eating behavior of consumers during national lockdowns in the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 157 respondents completed the online survey using a structured questionnaire worldwide. Overall, the respondents exhibited good attitude and good knowledge towards public health including food safety especially on the importance of social distancing, mask wearing, well-balanced diet, physical exercise and personal hygiene, such as hand washing during the pandemic lockdowns. A Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the relationships among food safety knowledge, attitude and behavior under the pandemic conditions. Results showed that attitude towards food safety under the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns positively affected the eating behavior of the respondents, which exhibited a high β (0.686) among the variables tested (p<0.05). Food safety knowledge was apparently not affected by the food safety behavior of the respondents.Entities:
Mesh:
Year: 2021 PMID: 34972145 PMCID: PMC8719730 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0261832
Source DB: PubMed Journal: PLoS One ISSN: 1932-6203 Impact factor: 3.240
Fig 1Model of relationships among food safety knowledge, attitude and eating behavior under the global coronavirus pandemic and varying lockdowns.
Demographic characteristics of respondents (n = 157).
| Variable | Parameter | Frequency | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Country/Region | Australia | 1 | 0.006 |
| Canada | 4 | 0.025 | |
| China | 99 | 0.631 | |
| Iran | 3 | 0.019 | |
| Japan | 1 | 0.006 | |
| Kuwait | 1 | 0.006 | |
| Lesotho | 1 | 0.006 | |
| Mongolia | 3 | 0.019 | |
| Netherlands | 1 | 0.006 | |
| New Zealand | 24 | 0.153 | |
| Pakistan | 1 | 0.006 | |
| South Africa | 10 | 0.064 | |
| UK | 3 | 0.019 | |
| USA | 5 | 0.032 | |
| Gender | Male | 54 | 0.344 |
| Female | 103 | 0.656 | |
| Age(years) | 18–24 | 44 | 0.280 |
| 25–34 | 67 | 0.427 | |
| 35–44 | 23 | 0.146 | |
| 45–54 | 10 | 0.064 | |
| 55–64 | 8 | 0.051 | |
| 65–74 | 3 | 0.019 | |
| 75- | 2 | 0.013 | |
| Composition of household | Children under 18 years | 63 | 0.401 |
| No child | 94 | 0.599 | |
| Employment status | Employed, working full-time | 83 | 0.529 |
| Employed, working part-time | 8 | 0.051 | |
| Not employed, looking for work | 5 | 0.032 | |
| Not employed, not looking for work | 1 | 0.006 | |
| Student | 52 | 0.331 | |
| Retired | 8 | 0.051 | |
| Highest level of education attained | Primary School or equivalent | 0 | 0.000 |
| Intermediate Diploma/Certificate or Equivalent | 1 | 0.006 | |
| High School Diploma/Certificate or equivalent | 4 | 0.025 | |
| Technical skills qualification or Equivalent | 2 | 0.013 | |
| Bachelor’s Degree/Equivalent | 63 | 0.401 | |
| Master’s Degree/Equivalent | 72 | 0.459 | |
| Doctorates Degree (PhD)/Equivalent | 15 | 0.096 | |
| Medical/Health Professional | 0 | 0.000 | |
| Other qualifications | 0 | 0.000 |
Item loadings and validities for reliability test and convergent validity.
| Parameter | Construct | Est. (Estimate) | SEM (Standard Error of Mean) | Est. / SEM | Two-Tailed P-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knowledge | K10 | 0.675 | 0.110 | 6.116 | 0.000 |
| K11 | 0.700 | 0.123 | 5.673 | 0.000 | |
| K12 | 0.768 | 0.131 | 5.865 | 0.000 | |
| Attitude | A24 | 0.944 | 0.079 | 12.025 | 0.000 |
| A25 | 0.609 | 0.108 | 5.651 | 0.000 | |
| A33 | 0.844 | 0.080 | 10.492 | 0.000 | |
| Behavior | B19 | 0.755 | 0.093 | 8.109 | 0.000 |
| B21 | 0.616 | 0.107 | 5.764 | 0.000 | |
| B22 | 0.780 | 0.104 | 7.506 | 0.000 | |
| B28 | 0.346 | 0.126 | 2.750 | 0.006 |
Measurement invariance.
| Chi-Square | Degrees of Freedom | RMSEA | CFI | TLI | SRMR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35.206 | 32 | 0.025 | 0.987 | 0.982 | 0.088 |
Mean scores of items in food safety knowledge, attitude, and behavior.
| Construct | Items | Mean |
|---|---|---|
| Food safety knowledge | K7. The coronavirus COVID-19 can be easily transmitted between among humans. | 0.994 |
| K8. A person contaminated by coronavirus COVID-19 must undergo self-isolation, even without showing any symptoms. | 0.994 | |
| K9. The vaccination against seasonal influenza is not effective against coronavirus COVID-19. | 0.892 | |
| K10.The coronavirus COVID-19 on hands can be eliminated by hand-washing using ordinary soap. | 0.529 | |
| K11. Coronavirus on food can be killed during cooking food. | 0.771 | |
| K12. Coronavirus on surfaces can be killed by disinfectants. | 0.815 | |
| K13. The coronavirus COVID-19 cannot be easily transmitted through contaminated food. | 0.280 | |
| K14. Even when it is contaminated, food is not a health risk if it is thoroughly cooked. | 0.490 | |
| K15. Humans can catch coronavirus by touching contaminated surfaces of food packaging box. | 0.879 | |
| Food safety attitude | A24.I ate a balanced diet. | 0.809 |
| A25.I ate sufficient amounts of fresh fruit and vegetables. | 0.783 | |
| A26.I ate sufficient amounts of fresh meat and fish. | 0.586 | |
| A29. Wash hands often. | 0.981 | |
| A30. Avoid eating meat or fish not thoroughly cooked. | 0.904 | |
| A31. Avoid eating fruit or vegetable not thoroughly washed. | 0.917 | |
| A32.Exercise regularly. | 0.650 | |
| A33. Maintain a well-balanced diet. | 0.828 | |
| A34. Keep air circulating in rooms. | 0.892 | |
| A35. Avoid shaking hands with others and touching packages with bare (unprotected) hands. | 0.930 | |
| A36. Avoid going to crowded public areas. | 0.975 | |
| A37. Wear masks in public areas. | 0.930 | |
| A38. Social distancing always should be observed. | 0.975 | |
| A39. Working from home is the new normal. | 0.911 | |
| Healthy eating behavior | B16. My eating habits did not change under the coronavirus covid-19 pandemic. | 0.522 |
| B17.I maintained the same eating habits by purchasing more takeaways or fast foods. | 0.866 | |
| B18.I maintained the same eating habits by cooking more at home. | 0.904 | |
| B19.I somehow ate more food under coronavirus covid-19. | 0.554 | |
| B20.I somehow ate less food under coronavirus covid-19 | 0.815 | |
| B21.I somehow ate the same amount of food under coronavirus covid-19. | 0.599 | |
| B22.I somehow ate food more frequently. | 0.605 | |
| B23.I somehow ate food less frequently. | 0.828 | |
| B27.I ate more canned foods. | 0.854 | |
| B28. I ate foods with longer shelf life. | 0.611 |
Fig 2The model of food safety knowledge, attitude and eating behaviors.