Food Safety Practices in Locust Bean Processing: Implication for Rural Women Well-Being in Ogun State, Nigeria

African locust bean (Parkia biglobosa) is a nutritious source of food since it is rich in protein and some beneficial health vitamins. The processed locust bean product (iru) is often containing impurities which are attributed to poor food safety procedures. Hence, this study examined food safety practices in locust bean and its implication on rural women well-being. Interview guide was used to collect data from 320 respondents. Data collected were analyzed with regression analysis at p < 0.05 level of significance. Findings showed that compliance to food safety practices was very poor for 93.8% of the respondents. The well-being of 64.4% of the respondents was poor. In addition, more than 60% of the respondents cannot cater for clothing, children’s education and health care through their monthly income from locust bean product. Results of regression showed that significant relationship exited between washing of hands before and after locust bean processing and well-being (β = 1.42). Also, results of regression showed that proximity of processing units to refuse dump sites (β = 0.94), scarcity of raw locust seeds (β = 0.48), and lack of modern processing facilities (β = 0.34) are most serious problems to locust bean processing that affected the rural women’s well-being at p < 0.05. This study concludes that food safety practices and constraints are determinants of rural women’s well-being. The study recommends that efforts should be geared towards enforcement of food safety practices by the nutritionists, community health workers and extension agents in order to obtain safe locust bean product for high income and good well-being of rural women.