Evaluation of Fish consumption pattern in Tripoli city –Libya and the extent of awareness of its importance and nutritional value

Abstract

Food security policies are based on a database collected from different sources including studies on food commodities consumption patterns. Due to the lack of data on fish consumption patterns in Libya. Therefore this study was conducted during the period January 2016 to February 2017 to evaluate the fish consumption pattern and awareness of its quality and nutritive value by the consumer in Tripoli-city, Libya.The study targeted randomly 916 individuals of both genders by questionnaire. The questionnaire's main parts included: demographic characteristics, fish consumption, knowledge of fish, and attitudes towards fish and fishery products. The open stat software package was used to conduct the chi-square test for independence. Nearly 60% of respondents were females while 40% were males. The age category (36-45) was the highest age (34%) among the study sample. Results showed that 98% of the respondents consume fish and 66% of them consume fish one to two times per month. As for fresh and canned fish, data showed that 96.7 and 94.7% of the study sample consume fresh fish and canned fish, respectively. Tuna fish was the most consumed canned fish. Results indicated that the number of times of fish consumption by study participants depends on sex (P=0.000) and type of work (P=0.000). The main types of fish preferred by respondents were sardine (57.6%), sea bream (47%), and mackerel (37.2%). The results revealed that the fish species consumed depend on the income of the study participants (P=0.0001) and the level of education (P=0.007). Per capita consumption of fish reached 21.4 kg/year. The results indicated that there is a need for raising the knowledge level of the population about fish nutritional value and quality. The results also indicated that television was the most effective medium for obtaining knowledge about the benefits and use of fish by the respondents (83%). The majority of the respondents (68.9%) proposed reducing the price of fish to promote fish consumption. The study concluded that effective policies should be adopted to educate the population to raise their per capita consumption of fish.