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Three trained questionnaire administrators were involved.
Respondents gave informed consent before participating
in the survey. To recruit the respondents, seven of the
15 major meat retail outlets receiving supplies from the
abattoirs within the metropolis were randomly identified.
During 4 months, at least 40 meat purchasers (who also
consume meat) were approached at each of the seven major
retail meat outlets. A total of 327 respondents completed
the questionnaire.
Ethical consideration
The confidentiality of the respondents was maintained. All
data and responses received were strictly treated as classified.
Respondents were allowed to opt out voluntarily at any point
during the questionnaire administration without prejudice
following stipulated ethical conduct of research (49). The
Ethical Review Committee of the Faculty of Veterinary
Medicine, University of Ilorin, ratified and endorsed the
research (approval reference no. FVER/008/2019).
Evaluation of the hygiene of retail meat and meat
display tables
Sample collection
We used a total of 212 samples (meat, n = 107; table swabs,
n = 105), with at least 13 samples collected per week from
the randomly selected retail meat outlets (n = 7) across the
Ilorin metropolis. A meat display table is a board on which
a meat retailer exhibits meat for purchasers to view and
buy from. Usually, the table is constructed in a manner that
allows for meat handling, including cutting and weighing.
Sometimes, the meat displayed is also handled or palpated
by the purchasers for personal assessment and satisfaction.
The table swabs were collected using sterile swab sticks
(Puritan Medical Products, Guilford, ME); each sterile swab
stick was swabbed on an approximately 25-cm2 area of the
meat table surface (30). The swabbed portion of the stick
was then cut into a sterile bijou bottle containing sterile
peptone water (Oxoid, Basingstoke, UK) solution. Similarly,
each meat sample (approximately 25 g) was put into a sterile
bijou bottle containing sterile peptone water solution and
mixed thoroughly. The collected samples were conveyed in
the cold chain to the laboratory and analyzed in <8 h after
collection (21) at the Food Safety Laboratory, Department
of Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine,
University of Ilorin.
Sample analysis: Bacterial contamination of meat and meat tables
To determine the level of bacterial contamination of the
meat and meat table swab samples, the aerobic plate count
(APC) and total coliform count (TCC) were carried out as
previously described (27) using plate count agar (Oxoid)
and MacConkey agar (Oxoid), respectively. Briefly, both the
meat and table swab samples were mixed vigorously for 2
min before a sixfold serial dilution was performed in sterile

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Food Protection Trends May/June

peptone water (Oxoid). Aliquots (0.1 mL) from the final
dilution level were inoculated in replicates on the prepared
agar plates and incubated at 30°C for 24 to 48 h. All media
used for bacterial enumeration were prepared according
to the manufacturers' instructions. Bacterial counts were
calculated as log CFU/g and log CFU/cm2 for the meat and
table swab samples, respectively.
Validity and reliability
Cronbach's alpha coefficient test was used to determine the
internal reliability of the questionnaire. The Cronbach's alpha
coefficient found in this study was 0.749, which is above
the recommended 0.7 and within the satisfactory bound of
reliability (39, 44).
Data management and statistical analysis
Data obtained from the responses to the questionnaire
were summarized using Microsoft Excel version 2016
(Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA) and analyzed
using SPSS version 16 (IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY).
Descriptive statistics were carried out using frequency and
percentages. Also, a numeric scoring system was developed
(28) to compute the outcome variable: consumers' risk
perception. Scores for risk perception by respondents ranged
from 0 to 13 (5.23 ± 2.66) and were further categorized
as low (0 to 5), moderate (6 to 9), and high (10 to 13).
Consumers' risk perception was used to determine their
willingness to buy and consume meat products and their
preference for types of meat and meat products. Chi-square
(cross-tabulation) analysis was used to test the association
among the outcome variables and demographic factors,
source of meat, and processed meat products at the 95%
confidence interval (a value of P < 0.05 was considered
significant). Consumers' level of reliance on product
attributes in assessing food safety and on the ability of
stakeholders involved in the food chain to assure and
influence food safety were computed into weighted means
(%) to determine the specific variables that the respondents
considered to be of importance among other variables. Data
obtained about bacterial contamination of meat and meat
tables were summarized as mean ± standard deviation for the
various retail meat outlets sampled.
RESULTS
Demographic profile of respondents
Table 1 presents the demographic features of the surveyed
respondents. A total of 327 respondents completed the
questionnaire. The majority of the respondents (63.0%)
were below the age of 25 years. A high percentage-82.6 and
74.3%-of the respondents were single and of the Islamic
faith, respectively. Most respondents were indigenes of the
northcentral (42.5%) and southwestern (35.2%) geopolitical
zones of Nigeria. Over half (119, 60.9%) of the respondents
earn below N100,000 (US$ 325.77) monthly.
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