Consumer perceptions of fruit and vegetable quality: certification and other options for safeguarding public health in West Africa

With increasing change of traditional diets, and the emergence of new supply and marketing chains, urban food consumers in low-income countries are faced with multiple food safety challenges, among which microbial contamination and pesticides are key concerns for fruits and vegetables sold on urban...

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Autores principales: Keraita, Bernard N., Drechsel, Pay
Formato: Artículo preliminar
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: International Water Management Institute 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/68485
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author Keraita, Bernard N.
Drechsel, Pay
author_browse Drechsel, Pay
Keraita, Bernard N.
author_facet Keraita, Bernard N.
Drechsel, Pay
author_sort Keraita, Bernard N.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description With increasing change of traditional diets, and the emergence of new supply and marketing chains, urban food consumers in low-income countries are faced with multiple food safety challenges, among which microbial contamination and pesticides are key concerns for fruits and vegetables sold on urban markets in West Africa. Although consumers have a genuine interest in healthy food, and are willing to pay premiums, their interpretation of food quality and risks deviates from scientific health risk assessments and does not translate into recommended risk mitigation behavior. To safeguard public health, alternative measures are needed to support consumers’ risk awareness and decision making. The review looked at common and less-common options to trigger and support behavioral change, including safety labeling (certification), corporate social responsibility models, incentive systems and social marketing of safe practices, to address potential food safety risks from farming in urban and peri-urban areas. Overall, it appears that regulatory measures for risk management, including certifications, will be – for now – less effective in the West African setup due to low educational levels in view of chemical and microbial risk, diverse and often informal food chains, poor safety supporting infrastructure and weak institutional capacities for compliance monitoring.
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spelling CGSpace684852025-11-07T08:41:50Z Consumer perceptions of fruit and vegetable quality: certification and other options for safeguarding public health in West Africa Keraita, Bernard N. Drechsel, Pay wastewater irrigation pesticides contamination legislation urban areas peri-urban areas marketing techniques With increasing change of traditional diets, and the emergence of new supply and marketing chains, urban food consumers in low-income countries are faced with multiple food safety challenges, among which microbial contamination and pesticides are key concerns for fruits and vegetables sold on urban markets in West Africa. Although consumers have a genuine interest in healthy food, and are willing to pay premiums, their interpretation of food quality and risks deviates from scientific health risk assessments and does not translate into recommended risk mitigation behavior. To safeguard public health, alternative measures are needed to support consumers’ risk awareness and decision making. The review looked at common and less-common options to trigger and support behavioral change, including safety labeling (certification), corporate social responsibility models, incentive systems and social marketing of safe practices, to address potential food safety risks from farming in urban and peri-urban areas. Overall, it appears that regulatory measures for risk management, including certifications, will be – for now – less effective in the West African setup due to low educational levels in view of chemical and microbial risk, diverse and often informal food chains, poor safety supporting infrastructure and weak institutional capacities for compliance monitoring. 2015 2015-10-13T06:16:42Z 2015-10-13T06:16:42Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/68485 en Open Access application/pdf International Water Management Institute Keraita, B.; Drechsel, Pay. 2015. Consumer perceptions of fruit and vegetable quality: certification and other options for safeguarding public health in West Africa. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 32p. (IWMI Working Paper 164) doi: https://doi.org/10.5337/2015.215
spellingShingle wastewater irrigation
pesticides
contamination
legislation
urban areas
peri-urban areas
marketing techniques
Keraita, Bernard N.
Drechsel, Pay
Consumer perceptions of fruit and vegetable quality: certification and other options for safeguarding public health in West Africa
title Consumer perceptions of fruit and vegetable quality: certification and other options for safeguarding public health in West Africa
title_full Consumer perceptions of fruit and vegetable quality: certification and other options for safeguarding public health in West Africa
title_fullStr Consumer perceptions of fruit and vegetable quality: certification and other options for safeguarding public health in West Africa
title_full_unstemmed Consumer perceptions of fruit and vegetable quality: certification and other options for safeguarding public health in West Africa
title_short Consumer perceptions of fruit and vegetable quality: certification and other options for safeguarding public health in West Africa
title_sort consumer perceptions of fruit and vegetable quality certification and other options for safeguarding public health in west africa
topic wastewater irrigation
pesticides
contamination
legislation
urban areas
peri-urban areas
marketing techniques
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/68485
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