Assessing Albanian consumer's perception of safety towards animal food products: Preliminary data from a cross-sectional survey

Abstract

Food safety is a major concern for Albanian consumers. Just like consumers in the EU countries, Albanian consumers share the same concerns about food safety. Therefore, the first aim of this research is to assess the perceived safety of Albanian consumers of three different product categories with animal origin (milk/milk products, eggs and meat/meat products). The second aim is to explore the relationship between the safety perception from the consumers and different technological treatments applied in these products. In the manuscript are depicted the first preliminary data collected from November 2022 to April 2023 from a cross-sectional survey. From a panel of potential hazards in food, antibiotics and hormones were perceived by the Albanian consumers as the main hazard in three types of foods taken under consideration. In the frame of technological treatments of food and its impact in the safety of food, the data shows that raw milk, fresh eggs, and meat directly from the butcher were perceived as “Safe” or “Totally safe” from Albania consumers. Despite the fact that this is an ongoing study we believe that other qualitative research in this direction is mandatory in the near future in order to have a more complete view of Albanian consumers on this topic.