Impact of Nutrition Counseling on Food Safety Awareness and Attitude of the Respondents Belonging to Slum Areas of Ludhiana

A random selection of 150 young mothers (children ≤ 5 years) from slum areas of Ludhiana was done and various issues were enquired related to food safety awareness and their attitude towards food safety. The results of the study revealed that during pre testing, the respondent’s mean awareness score came out to be 6.58 out of the maximum of 15 which was below average and it was highest for the respondents aged between 27-29 years (7.18), the income category Rs. 1600-2000 (7.22) and large family size (6.83). This showed that the respondents were not considerably aware about the food safety issues during pretesting. The attitude of the respondents during pretesting was better in the age category of 27-29 years, the income category Rs. 1000-1500 and large family size. 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 for Rs. 10001500 (12.25) and small family size (12.16). The respondents in the age group of 24-26 years, the income category > Rs. 2000 and small family size showed an improvement in the attitude towards food safety. This showed that after imparting the nutrition counseling on the various aspects of food safety, the respondents were considerably aware about the food safety issues as well as their attitude towards food safety improved. There was a gain in knowledge (5.53) and 1.84 times quantum of improvement after nutrition counseling. Results of paired ttest revealed a significant difference in the pre and post awareness score of the respondent’s i.e. 0.19 (p<0.05) and their attitude towards food safety i.e. 1.04 (p<0.05).