Impact of nutrition counseling on food safety awareness in slum areas of Ludhiana

A random selection of 150 young mothers (children ≤ 5 years) from slum areas of Ludhiana was made and various issues were enquired related to food safety awareness. The results of the study revealed that during pre-testing, the respondents mean awareness score came out to be 6.58 out of the maximum of 15 which was below average. This showed that the respondents were not considerably aware about the food safety issues. During pre-testing, the mean awareness score was highest for the respondents aged between 27–29 years (7.18), in the income category of Rs. 1600–2000 (7.22) and with large family size (6.83). After imparting the nutrition counseling for the period of 3 months, the post mean awareness score of all the respondents improved as it was 12.11 out of the maximum of 15. On the basis of various categories, the highest mean score of 12.48 was in the age category of 23–26 years, family income of Rs. 1000–1500 (12.25) and small family size (12.16). This showed that the respondents were considerably aware about the food safety issues after receiving the nutrition counseling about various aspects of food safety. There was a gain in knowledge (5.53) and 1.84 times quantum of improvement after nutrition counseling. Results of paired t-test revealed a significant negative correlation (−0.19) between food safety awareness and incidence of food borne diseases. This showed that with increase in food safety awareness among the respondents, there was a decrease in the incidence of food borne diseases.