“Sometimes You Get Good Ones, and Sometimes You Get Not-so-Good Ones”: Vendors’ and Consumers’ Strategies to Identify and Mitigate Food Safety Risks in Urban Nigeria

Abstract

This paper uses detailed data from in-depth interviews with consumers (n = 47) and vendors (n = 37) in three traditional markets in Birnin Kebbi, Nigeria. We used observations from those markets to examine how consumers and vendors identify and avoid or manage food safety risks and whom they hold responsible and trust when it comes to ensuring food safety. At the level of the vendor, consumers mentioned seeking “clean” or “neat” vendors or stalls. Cleanliness was primarily related to the appearance of the vendor, stall, and surroundings; reliance on trusted, known vendors was also noted. Food products themselves were largely evaluated based on visual cues: insects, holes, and colors—with some reliance on smell, also. Similarly, vendors assessed safety of food from suppliers based on a visual assessment or reliance on trusted relationships. On the second research question, both consumers and vendors largely placed responsibility for ensuring food safety on government; when asked specifically, consumers also named specific steps that vendors could take to ensure food safety. Consumers and vendors also generally felt that they could limit many food safety risks through identifying the “good” products in the market or from suppliers. The paper discusses the implications of these results for behavior change interventions.

What Is Safe and How Much Does It Matter? Food Vendors’ and Consumers’ Views on Food Safety in Urban Nigeria

“…In Phase 2, they focused on vendors’ motivations for selling food, how food safety related to collaboration and competition among vendors, customer relations, and on specific cues vendors used to address quality and safety for fish and GLV. Not all topics are covered here; some are explored in a companion paper [ 32 ]. All interviews also covered sociodemographic characteristics.…”

Chinese Consumers’ Trust in Food Safety Surveillance Sampling of Commonly Consumed Foods

“…Levi [51] posited that the goodwill of the government is an important component of government trust, representing the extent to which the government cares for people's livelihoods and interests, as measured by the motivations and goals of government management behavior. To a large extent, consumers believe that the government is responsible for ensuring food safety [52] and should take responsibility for disclosing food safety information and communicating risk. National food safety monitoring and inspection departments should regularly publish relevant information and undertake risk monitoring.…”

How Perspectives on Food Safety of Vendors and Consumers Translate into Food-Choice Behaviors in 6 African and Asian Countries

“…Consumers' perspectives about food safety rely partly on the food's smell, taste, attributes, and appearance as criteria for safe food consumption [9,13,[15][16][17]. Prinsen et al [18] indicated that a food's appearance held higher value than how it was processed and stored.…”

“…Consumers attributed increases in disease prevalence to food-safety concerns, such as chemicals, contaminants, and adulteration, rather than concerns related to the nutritional content of the packaged food [ 6 ]. Barriers associated with purchasing safe food products included affordability [ [6] , [7] , [8] , [9] , [10] ], availability [ 7 , 9 , 11 , 12 ], and the effectiveness of institutions regulating food safety [ 8 , 13 ].…”

“…Consumers’ perspectives about food safety rely partly on the food’s smell, taste, attributes, and appearance as criteria for safe food consumption [ 9 , 13 , [15] , [16] , [17] ]. Prinsen et al.…”