Socioeconomic Factors and Constraints on Food Safety Practices in Locust Bean Processing in Southwest Nigeria

Properly processed locust bean (Parkia biglobosa) is very important, especially in countries where the need for protein supplementation is high for both adults and infants. However, in the past there have been some inexcusable failures in the processing of the locust bean seed condiment, such as poor processing practices. Therefore, this study seeks to investigate how socioeconomic factors lead to constraints on the food safety practices of locust bean processors (LBP) in Southwest Nigeria. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 277 respondents from a list of LBPs obtained from states with a high prevalence of locust bean processing activities. The primary data for the study were collected using a well-structured questionnaire and were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results show that 99.3% of the respondents were female with an average age of 42 years and an average processing experience of 17 years. 50.4% of the respondents' processing activities were unsafe, while 49.6% had adopted adequate food safety practices. Marital status, social association, household size, year of processing and various constraints were significant factors that influenced food safety practices. The results further show that the respondents were faced with major constraints like the difficulty of processing locust bean seed and inadequate credit facilities which prevented them from adopting appropriate food safety practices. The study concludes that processors are faced with challenges related to equipment and finance. Therefore, intervention to help them overcome some of the challenges which interfere with their ability to engage in food safety practices, such as the lack of sufficient financial resources to purchase modern equipment, could enhance safe food processing practices.