Food safety behavioural changes among the population in Sub-Saharan Africa during the COVID-19 first wave

The COVID-19 pandemic is of great worry to Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), which is notorious for being a region that is severely plagued by foodborne infections. Although it is believed that there is a very low risk of contracting the SARSCoV-2 coronavirus through food products and food packaging, this does not rule out the possibility of cross-contamination. The purpose of this study was to evaluate that risk based on the population's key food safety Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP), which may be thought to be crucial to preventing virus spread in the long run. Between June and July 2020, a cross-sectional study using an online survey was conducted (during the first wave of COVID-19 in the region). 817 participants were registered from 5 developing nations (Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria), one middle-income nation (South Africa), and the study's target population of Sub-Saharan Africans aged at least 18.