Objective  To examine the status and population characteristics of knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) about foodborne disease prevention among the public in China and to provide evidences for developing strategies on effective food safety education and health promotion in schools and communities.

  Methods   With a self-designed questionnaire, we conducted an interview survey among 2 600 citizens recruited in 70 counties/prefectures of 7 geographical regions across China using stratified multistage random sampling during January – May of 2020. Four-quadrant analysis and multinominal logistic regression model were used to analyze the status quo and population characteristics of KAP about foodborne disease prevention in the participants.

  Results  Among the 2 466 participants with valid responses, 62.20%, 59.26%, and 70.08% reported foodborne disease prevention-related awareness, correct attitude, and correct behaviors and the average scores for knowledge, attitude and practice about foodborne disease prevention were 4.98 ± 1.61, 4.74 ± 2.34 and 7.01 ± 2.20, respectively. Correlation analysis indicated significant positive correlations among participants′ foodborne disease prevention-related knowledge, attitude and practice (r = 0.228, 0.440, and 0.201, P < 0.01 for all). Of all the participants, 1 328 (54.29%) were classified into the first quadrant (the quadrant with a higher proportion of participants having better KAP about foodborne disease prevention) and 624 (25.51%), 281 (11.49%), and 213 (8.71%) into the second, third, and the fourth quadrant. The results of logistic regression analysis revealed that: the male participants were more likely to be classified into the third and the second quadrant; the participants aged 0 – 20 years were more likely to be classified into the fourth quadrant and those aged 21 – 40 years into the third quadrant, but those aged 41 – 60 years were less likely into the second quadrant; the participants with the education of college/university or below were more likely to be classified into the second quadrant, while those with the education of junior high school or below were more likely to be classified into the third quadrant; the married participants were less likely to be classified into the third quadrant; and the participants with an annual household income of less than 10 000 RMB yuan were more likely to be classified into the third quadrant.

  Conclusion   The knowledge, attitude and practice about foodborne disease prevention is generally at a low level among the public in China and targeted education and intervention on food safety should be carried out in various populations.