Perceived risk factors and their influence on compliance with meat safety guidelines among butchers and fresh meat retailers in Ghana.

Meat safety is critical for safeguarding public health, as contaminated meat poses serious risks, and compliance with safety guidelines largely depends on meat handlers' risk perceptions. This study assessed how butchers and fresh meat retailers in Ghana perceive risk factors contributing to unsafe meat production and examines the extent to which these perceptions influence their compliance with meat safety guidelines. The study used primary data obtained from 87 butchers and 299 fresh meat retailers. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, including means, standard deviations, and F-statistics, as well as Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings on the perceived risk factors reveals a positive risk perception index of 0.88 and 0.86 for butchers and retailers respectively. This indicates a high level of awareness or concern about risks. The most highly perceived risk factors were institutional risks (1.30), financial risks (1.29), and microbiological/chemical risks (1.27). The PLS-SEM results revealed that butchers' compliance with safety guidelines was positively influenced by perceived environmental risk (β = 0.192,