The plan of this study was to determine the level of food safety knowledge and practices among 350 students (mean age 21±) enrolled in University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan, to find out the association between these variables, the demographic and educational characteristics. The collected responses were analyzed using SPSS for descriptive, frequency distribution and percentages. Pearson chi square calculated the relationship between food safety knowledge and practices in relation to gender. Findings concluded 80% of the students have knowledge that uncooked chicken, fish and meat should place separately, while 92% students knew the importance of clean the cutting board before using different types of food like tomatoes and mutton. Female students (46%) always wash their hands before cooking in the kitchen as compare to male students (20.7%). Similarly, female respondents (45%) always consider the expiry date of the product before its use and 72.1% respondents reported that bacterial load cannot completely removed from hands by washing under tape water without using soap. Results concluded for females shows that there was a very small but positive correlation between the two variables [r = 0.002, n = 200, p>0.05]. However, for   male students’ data showed that, there was a negative correlation between the food safety knowledge and food safety practices responses [r = -0.052, n = 150, p>0.5]. The average food safety knowledge scores of female were calculated as 1.3140±.164 while male scored 1.3613±.172. Knowledge base score of male respondent is higher than female students and relationship between them is non-significant (p>0.05). However, in term of practices on food safety scores, female student showed similar results with male students, which is 2.596±.418 and 2.595±.327 respectively. These results strengthen the need for continuous educational programs to improve food safety awareness skills of male and female students.

Keywords: Food Safety, Knowledge, Practices, Demographic and Educational programs.