Education Shapes Household Meat Safety Habits During Eid al-Adha in Türkiye

During Eid al-Adha, large quantities of Qurbani meat are slaughtered, distributed, stored, and consumed within a short period, compressing the entire journey from butcher to plate into a window that creates distinct household food safety challenges. A cross-sectional study published in BMC Public Health examined how Turkish households handled that meat in 2022 and whether their practices differed by educational level, finding significant associations between education and several key steps from freezer to plate.

The research team surveyed 218 Turkish adults using a non-probability snowball sampling approach in the weeks following Eid al-Adha, between 25 July and 25 August 2022. Participants completed a structured, author-developed questionnaire covering how their households handled, stored, and consumed Qurbani meat. The sample was divided into three educational groups: those with no degree (24.3 percent), undergraduates (42.2 percent), and graduate or postgraduate degree holders (33.5 percent).

Statistically, the researchers used Pearson’s chi-square tests to examine associations between educational level and food safety practices, applying a Monte Carlo exact procedure when expected cell counts were low. Effect sizes were quantified with Cramér’s V, and p-values were adjusted using the Benjamini–Hochberg false discovery rate procedure to limit spurious findings. All analyses were exploratory and unadjusted, meaning the study compared pairs of variables without controlling for other potential influences.

After the false discovery rate correction, educational level remained significantly associated with a striking range of household behaviors: the storage temperature used for meat, whether meat was prepared before freezing, thawing and refreezing practices, the amount and timing of meat consumption, cross-contamination practices, and both the method used to judge doneness and the preferred degree of doneness, all at q values below 0.05. Higher educational attainment was generally linked with more frequent reporting of recommended storage and hygiene practices, but the pattern was not consistent across every behavior measured. In other words, a university or graduate degree did not translate uniformly into safer handling at every step, suggesting that food safety knowledge and practice can diverge even among well-educated households during this intense annual meat-processing period.

One reassuring finding was that self-reported symptoms after meat consumption were uncommon in the sample overall, and their occurrence did not differ by educational level. Because the survey relied on self-report and an exploratory design, the authors caution that these associations do not imply causality; education may correlate with unmeasured factors that also shape handling practices, and the cross-sectional snapshot cannot establish which came first.

The study’s timing matters for interpretation. Eid al-Adha concentrates slaughter, distribution, storage, and consumption of Qurbani meat into a short period, so practices such as refreezing thawed meat or judging doneness by appearance rather than temperature become widespread household risks simultaneously. The survey captured self-reported behavior in the weeks immediately after the festival, offering a snapshot rather than a controlled comparison of interventions.

The authors conclude that educational level was associated with several household meat handling, storage, and consumption practices during Eid al-Adha, even though not all differences favored the higher-educated groups. They suggest that food safety communication delivered before the festival may support safer household practices, and they call for future studies to evaluate whether such interventions actually reduce foodborne illness and food waste, rather than inferring benefits from cross-sectional associations alone.

Subject of Research: Household meat handling, storage, and consumption practices by educational level during Eid al-Adha in Türkiye

Article Title: Differences in household meat handling, storage, and consumption practices by educational level during Eid al-Adha in Türkiye: a cross-sectional study

Article References: Öztürk, M., Çonak, Ö., Yıldırım Çavak, B., & Günalan, E. (2026). Differences in household meat handling, storage, and consumption practices by educational level during Eid al-Adha in Türkiye: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-026-29972-9

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12889-026-29972-9

Keywords: food safety, Eid al-Adha, Qurbani meat, Türkiye, cross-sectional study, educational level, meat storage, cross-contamination, household hygiene, foodborne illness, meat handling, BMC Public Health