Inocuidad y seguridad alimentaria de las familias del cantón Paute que forman parte del Centro de Desarrollo Infantil perteneciente al Ministerio de Inclusión Económica y Social

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to priority the food security and knowledge, attitudes and practices of parents whose children are enrolled in the public institution “Centro de Desarrollo Infantil” (CDI) belonging to “Ministerio de Inclusion Economica y Social” (MIES) located in the city of Paute. The total of participants were 80 parents (95.2%), the surveys used for data collection were two: the first one about the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of parents (Annex 1). An the second about the food security of their families (Annex 2). These data were obtained by telephone calls and the answers were scored to determine the level of food safety (KAP, Table 1) and food security (Table 2). The results obtained from each survey were rated out of 100 %, of which those who obtained > 70 % in knowledge and practices were considered as satisfactory, and about attitudes were considered as positive. The results showed to be mostly sufficient in knowledge and practices with percentages of 65 % and 89 % respectively, as for attitudes they were positive in 95 %. The most frequently questions were: 1) The attitudes of the parents depend on the knowledge obtained in training sessions. 2) The best way to eliminate germs out of food, the majority selected to cook the food completely. 3) Since most of the respondents are mothers, it is almost inevitable that they will cook and serve food when they get sick, which is why their attitude responses did not parallel with their practice responses. In terms of food security, in 46.3% of the families were found mild food insecure, and 53.7% were divided into the following 3 degrees: moderate food insecurity with 26.3%, food secure and severe food insecurity with 14.8% each.