Consumption pattern of chicken and consumer awareness of unwholesome practises by some dressed chicken smugglers In Oyo Town, Nigeria

Oyo town has a large concentration of poultry farms in Oyo state. This will in no small way influence the meat choice of the people of the town. This study was carried out to determine the consumption pattern of chicken and the unwholesome practices by dressed chicken smugglers in Oyo town, Nigeria. A total of 100 questionnaires were purposively administered to chicken consumers in thestudy area. Also, a multistage sampling method was adopted with the study area divided into three, on Local Government Area (LGA) basis. in the first stage. In the second stage, 30 questionnaires were administered in each of Oyo East and Oyo West LGAs while 40 were administered in Atiba LGA. Data from the table show that majority of the respondents were female (62%), aged between 20 – 39 years (46%) and had tertiary education (54%). From the table, 22% claimed affordability as the reason for chicken purchase while 72% preferred dressed chicken to live chicken.The results also show that 56% of the respondents ate chicken weekly and 47% of them made their purchases from farms and farm outlets. Factors considered to influence purchases were affordability (30%) and availability (24%). Only twenty four percent (24%) of the respondents were aware of the unwholesome practices by dressed chicken smugglers while 46% of those aware saw the consumption of smuggled chicken as hazardous. Key words: Oyo town, chicken consumption, chicken preferences, dressed chicken smugglers, food safet