Women Manufacturing Traditional Food in Rural Areas and Their Opinions on Food Safety

Abstract

This study examines women's view and opinions on food safety, namely the women who manufacture traditional food in the rural Thrace Region. The main aim of this study is to review the opinions of women on food safety in the Thrace region, who participate in traditional food manufacturing in the current situation. The original data were obtained by questionnaire technique in the three major cities of the Thrace region (Edirne, Tekirdag, Kirklareli). Some 323 women, who were randomly chosen from the villages that represent these cities, made a questionnaire for the study. Among the most important findings acquired as a result of the study is that the women who attended the study consider themselves rather housewives (85.4 %) and do not accept being a farmer (1.0 %) as a profession. Women mostly manufacture traditional foods such as tomato paste, tarhana (sundried tomato and flour), kesme (homemade pasta), kuskus, and cheese respectively. However, bulgur wheat, bulama (a kind of halva), butter, and molasses are seldom manufactured. A large percentage, 83.9 % of the women who manufacture traditional foods only make them for their own consumption, and only 3.2 % sell them. 44.3 % of women sell these items themselves. Some 71.2 % of women wish to continue only if they make a considerable amount of profit out of traditional foods. The first things that attract attention among women in the distribution of criteria when purchasing food are the price and the package, freshness and taste criteria constitute another group, and trust towards the brand and local foods are a separate group.