Assessment of risk factors of food safety in local butter marketing in Kersa, Mana and Welmera districts of Oromia, Ethiopia

Risk factors pre-disposing local butter to food safety hazards in the informal
marketing system along the supply chain of the central highlands and south-west
midlands of Ethiopia were assessed. Purposive random sampling technique was
used to select 1101 respondents from the local butter supply chain (532 producers,
107 retailers and 462 consumers). Data were collected using a semi-structured
questionnaire developed separately for each category of respondents. Ninety- nine
percent of the respondents indicated that butter was stored and marketed at
ambient temperature with no cold chain management. Common butter storage
materials included high-density polyethylene containers (51%), low-density
polyethylene plastic bags (29%) and clay pots (73%). The respondents packed and
marketed butter using castor leaves, plastic cups and false banana leaves and
lints. Stream, river and borehole water sources were used to wash vessels,
churners and fresh butter. However, only 23% of the respondents used tap water
for the same purposes. The majority of the respondents trekked on their foot to
take butter to local market places followed by the use of horse carts (11%) and
three-wheel drives (10%). Itinerant traders and retailers played key roles in the
informal supply chain of butter. Overall, there are no standard operating
procedures and infrastructures along the supply chain. Thus, local butter supplied
to consumers is liable to sensorial, physico-chemical and microbial deterioration
and is exposed to risks of food-borne pathogens. The practices endanger the
safety and quality of local butter unless stringent quality control measures are
taken by concerned regulatory bodies. The objective of the study was to identify
risk factors and design intervention to minimize the food safety hazards in butter.