Perceived food safety, trust in sellers, and food-safety enforcement beliefs in secondary food markets: associations with purchasing behaviour and recommendation intention in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Secondary food markets that resell surplus, unused, near-expiry, or otherwise suboptimal food may contribute to affordability and food waste reduction, but consumers may face uncertainty about product safety, seller accountability, storage conditions, and regulatory oversight. This cross-sectional study examined perceived food safety, trust in sellers, belief in food-safety enforcement, and their associations with reported purchasing behaviour and recommendation intention among 202 respondents recruited in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The study-specific questionnaire assessed demographic characteristics, secondary-market purchasing experience, perceived food safety and quality, trust in sellers, confidence in identifying unsafe food, food-safety enforcement, likelihood of recommending, and food-waste-related attitudes. Overall, 73.3% of respondents reported prior secondary-market purchases, 82.2% perceived secondary-market food as safe, and 72.3% considered its quality similar to products from primary retail channels. A further 98.0% stated they would purchase more if food safety improved. Perceived food safety was associated with prior purchase, purchase frequency, and perceived product quality, while grouped enforcement belief was associated with prior purchase. Recommendation likelihood was positively associated with trust in sellers (r = .316), enforcement belief (r = .389), confidence in identifying unsafe food (r = .375), and perceived food safety (r pb = .440). All eight focal associations remained statistically significant after Bonferroni correction (adjusted α = .00625). Because the data were cross-sectional and obtained through non-probability sampling, these findings represent sample-specific associations rather than causal effects or population-level estimates. The findings support further investigation of product-safety perceptions, seller-specific trust, and perceived institutional assurance in relation to consumer responses to secondary food markets.