Sonika Sharma2017-05-022017-05-022011http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810010390A random selection of 240 home food preparers was done from rural and urban areas of Ludhiana District and an enquiry was made about the awareness, practices and attitude towards food safety .The results revealed that all the respondents were considerably aware about the food safety issues (9.25/15). High mean awareness scores were found in case of respondents aged >45 years (10.05), post graduates (12.60), and urban high income category (10.88). These categories also reported a better attitude towards food safety. Outsourcing practices of branded and packed food items was more in case of urban areas as compared to rural areas. A high practices score were found in urban high income category (105.20), respondents aged >45 years (95.74) and post graduates (107.98). Food poisoning was the maximum (41.47%) reported disease and majority of the cases were (59.38%) reported in rural areas. A significant negative correlation was found between food safety awareness and practices with the incidence of food borne diseases (p<0.01). In contrast, a significant positive correlation between food safety practices and awareness (p<0.01) showed that the respondents with better food safety awareness were following good food safety practices. The pesticide residue analysis of the food samples revealed the residues of nonrecommended pesticides were found in the all vegetable samples. The mean practice and awareness score of the respondents without microbial contamination in food samples was significantly higher than with microbial contamination (p<0.01).Thus, a higher food safety awareness and practices can be instrumental in reducing the microbial contamination in food but the presence/ absence of microbial contamination did not affect the disease incidence.ennullThesis