Food safety through the eyes of rural market vendors in northwest Nigeria

Traditional food markets are critical for ensuring access to nutritious foods in low- and middle-income countries but are often overlooked as key intervention points to mitigate the risks associated with foodborne hazards. To date, there has been little investigation into how food safety risk perceptions among rural market vendors influence food safety-promoting behaviors. Focusing on Kebbi State in northwestern Nigeria, we first conducted a rapid appraisal of food markets to identify the similarities and differences between rural and non-rural markets, clarifying the context in which food safety-promoting behaviors are performed and for which interventions targeting food safety behavior change might be designed. Then, a qualitative ethnographic examination of food safety risk perception (FSRP) and food safety-promoting behaviors among rural market vendors was conducted to further understand the extent to which perceived risk drives behavior, relative to other factors. The study revealed that rural markets have distinct features that warrant context-aware interventions, but also identified shared characteristics that may be relevant for improving vendor behaviors across the rural-urban continuum. The ethnographic study found evidence for a strong link between FSRP and food safety-promoting behaviors, but discovered that FSRP works as a behavioral driver in conjunction with other factors. In particular, whether and how vendors acted on FSRP was significantly moderated by their perceptions of their customers’ priorities. This analysis highlights the specific constraints faced by rural vendors, and points to the potential utility of FSRP for influencing behavior change in rural market settings and beyond in low- and middle-income country settings.