scholarly journals Over-confident and under-competent: exploring the importance of food safety education specific to high school students

2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 65-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth J. Diplock ◽  
Andria Jones-Bitton ◽  
Scott T Leatherdale ◽  
Steven Rebellato ◽  
Joel A. Dubin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Safety Information ◽  
Safety Education ◽  
Food Handling ◽  
School Students ◽  
Food Safety Education ◽  
Food Literacy ◽  
Safe Food

The objective of this study was to explore age-specific reasons why food safety education might be important for high school students (in Ontario, Canada), from a variety of expert perspectives. In May 2014, semi-structured key informant interviews (n = 20) were conducted with food safety and youth education experts. A thematic analysis of verbatim transcripts of the interviews was conducted. Participants identified three major reasons why food safety is important for high school students: (i) they have current and personal needs for food safety information, (ii) high school is an ideal time and place to instill life-long good habits, and (iii) they are part of the foodborne illness risk landscape. Food safety education was deemed important for high school students, who were seen as a unique and captive audience in need of safe food handling skills, now and in the future, for a variety of reasons: potential employment advantages, improved food literacy, combating their sense of “invincibility,” and helping instill essential life skills that they may not get elsewhere. These results confirm the importance of food safety education for high school students and highlight the need to determine age-appropriate interventions and methods to engage high school students and improve their safe food handling practices.

Observation of High School Students' Food Handling Behaviors: Do They Improve following a Food Safety Education Intervention?

2018 ◽  
Vol 81 (6) ◽  
pp. 917-925 ◽  
Author(s):  
KENNETH J. DIPLOCK ◽  
JOEL A. DUBIN ◽  
SCOTT T. LEATHERDALE ◽  
DAVID HAMMOND ◽  
ANDRIA JONES-BITTON ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Student Characteristics ◽  
Food Handler ◽  
Safety Education ◽  
Food Handling ◽  
School Students ◽  
Food Safety Education ◽  
Safe Food

ABSTRACT Youth are a key audience for food safety education. They often engage in risky food handling behaviors, prepare food for others, and have limited experience and knowledge of safe food handling practices. Our goal was to investigate the effectiveness of an existing food handler training program for improving safe food handling behaviors among high school students in Ontario, Canada. However, because no schools agreed to provide control groups, we evaluated whether behaviors changed following delivery of the intervention program and whether changes were sustained over the school term. We measured 32 food safety behaviors, before the intervention and at 2-week and 3-month follow-up evaluations by in-person observations of students (n = 119) enrolled in grade 10 and 12 Food and Nutrition classes (n = 8) and who individually prepared recipes. We examined within-student changes in behaviors across the three time points, using mixed effects regression models to model trends in the total food handling score (of a possible 32 behaviors) and subscores for “clean” (17 behaviors), “separate” (14 behaviors), and “cook” (1 behavior), adjusting for student characteristics. At baseline, students (n = 108) averaged 49.1% (15.7 of 32 behaviors; standard deviation = 5.8) correct food handling behaviors, and only 5.5% (6) of the 108 students used a food thermometer to check the doneness of the chicken (the “cook” behavior). All four behavior score types increased significantly ∼2 weeks postintervention and remained unchanged ∼3 months later. Student characteristics (e.g., having taken a prior food handling course) were not significant predictors of the total number of correctly performed food handling behaviors or of the “clean” or “separate” behaviors, and working or volunteering in a food service establishment was the only student characteristic significantly associated with food thermometer use (i.e., “cook”) Despite the significant increase in correct behaviors, students continued to use risky practices postintervention, suggesting that the risk of foodborne disease remained.

Effect of Observational Evaluation of Food Safety Curricula on High School Students' Behavior Change

2020 ◽  
Vol 83 (11) ◽  
pp. 1947-1957 ◽  
Author(s):  
TRESSIE BARRETT ◽  
YAOHUA FENG
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Behavior Change ◽  
Hand Washing ◽  
Food Handling ◽  
School Students ◽  
Environmental Cleaning ◽  
Safe Food ◽  
Hand Drying

ABSTRACT High school students have limited food safety knowledge and lack safe food handling skills. However, youth of high school age are frequently employed in food service and will prepare food for themselves. This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a food safety educational intervention for changing students' food handling behaviors, and the theory of planned behavior was used to construct factors that contribute to behavior change. A combination of stationary and wearable (GoPro) cameras was used to observe the food handling practices of high school students in key areas, including food thermometer use, hand washing and hand drying, glove changing, and environmental cleaning. The percentage of correct food handling techniques was measured categorically, and the number of groups who complied with thermometer use and environmental cleaning guidelines was recorded. The percentage of students using correct hand washing, hand drying, and glove changing techniques significantly increased in the postobservation cooking session. However, the percentage of correct hand washing and glove changing events remained <50% for certain subcategories: hand washing time (38%), hand washing after handling raw produce (36%) and touching skin (20%), changing gloves after gloves became contaminated or torn (47%), and washing hands between glove changes (15%). Students modified their behaviors to comply with subjective norms related to the study, including instructor expectations, but some students did not plan to change the behaviors they practiced at home. Students cited food handling behaviors they observed their parents using when making decisions about how to prepare food. This study highlights the need for the development of food safety educational interventions that encourage safe food handling skills and address influences from key subjective norm groups. HIGHLIGHTS

Food Safety Education Needs of High‐School Students: Leftovers, Lunches, and Microwaves

2019 ◽  
Vol 89 (7) ◽  
pp. 578-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth J. Diplock ◽  
Andria Jones‐Bitton ◽  
Scott T. Leatherdale ◽  
Steven Rebellato ◽  
David Hammond ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Safety Education ◽  
School Students ◽  
Food Safety Education ◽  
Education Needs

Evaluation of different food safety education interventions

2016 ◽  
Vol 118 (4) ◽  
pp. 762-776 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaohua Feng ◽  
Christine Bruhn ◽  
David Marx
Keyword(s):  
Food Safety ◽  
Safety Information ◽  
Personal Hygiene ◽  
Safety Education ◽  
Food Handling ◽  
Standard Material ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Food Safety Education ◽  
Safe Handling ◽  
Significant Difference

Purpose – The positive deviance (PD) focus group is a novel educational intervention that allows participants to discuss their food handling behaviors and decide to try recommended practices modeled by people like themselves. Currently, most food safety education is delivered through reading materials. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effectiveness of food safety education utilizing three interventions: PD, personal story reading and reading standard material. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 89 pregnant women and 93 people with diabetes received food safety information through one of three intervention methods: PD, reading standard educational material (Standard) and reading material presented in a story format (Story). A survey assessed self-reported risk and food safety knowledge and personal hygiene before and after the interventions. Take-home assignments allowed participants to practice recommendations. Post class interviews and survey assessed knowledge gained and reported behavior change. Findings – Compared to those who merely read educational information, participants in a PD Intervention had higher knowledge scores and adopted more safe handling recommendations. Involvement of the participants and the length of information exposure likely contributed to the significant difference between the interventions. This suggests that food safety education is most effective when delivered in a supportive discussion format. Health education programs for these vulnerable groups should endeavor to deliver safe food handling guidelines through a PD approach. Originality/value – Previous research demonstrated the effectiveness of PD when delivering nutrition education. This is the first paper that explored the effectiveness of a PD intervention in delivering safe handling recommendations.

Development and Evaluation of a Computer Detective Game for Microbial Food Safety Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (6) ◽  
pp. 1144-1160
Author(s):  
Hsien-Sheng Hsiao ◽  
Fu-Hsing Tsai ◽  
I-Ying Hsu
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Food Poisoning ◽  
Safety Education ◽  
Game Based Learning ◽  
School Students ◽  
Food Safety Education ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Safety Knowledge

Past studies have suggested that young people lack knowledge regarding food safety, and that food safety education is appropriate for integration into science education since it often involves science knowledge. Thus, this study combined the methods of inquiry-based and game-based learning to develop a computer detective game, called the Poison Riddle, that makes students actively explore food safety knowledge through playing the role of a science detective to solve a task related to food poisoning at home in a virtual world. To evaluate the learning effectiveness of this game, 109 high school students were selected as the research participants. The research findings indicated that this game could help students improve their microbial food safety knowledge. Most students had positive participation perception and gaming behaviors related to the game. In addition, the analysis indicated that the students who successfully solved the game task gained more positive gaming behaviors, food safety knowledge, and significant sequential behaviors compared to those who were unsuccessful in solving the game task.

Comparison between Self-Reported and Observed Food Handling Behaviors among Latinas

2007 ◽  
Vol 70 (8) ◽  
pp. 1927-1932 ◽  
Author(s):  
JIGNA MORARJI DHAROD ◽  
RAFAEL PÉREZ-ESCAMILLA ◽  
STEFANIA PACIELLO ◽  
ANGELA BERMÚDEZ-MILLÁN ◽  
KUMAR VENKITANARAYANAN ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Safety ◽  
Safety Behaviors ◽  
Safety Education ◽  
Food Handling ◽  
Food Ingredients ◽  
Safety Attitudes ◽  
Food Safety Education ◽  
Reported Data ◽  
High Level ◽  
Main Meal

The study was conducted to compare and identify the magnitude of differences between self-reported and observed food safety behaviors among women preparing a chicken and salad dish at home. The observed food safety practices also were compared according to sociodemographic variables and prior food safety education. Sixty Puerto Rican women who were the main meal preparers for their households were recruited in Hartford, Conn. Three household visits were made to (i) deliver food ingredients to prepare the chicken and salad meal, (ii) conduct household observation, and (iii) conduct a self-reported survey. The difference between self-reported and observed behaviors varied across food handling and sanitation behaviors. There was a high level of inaccuracy for socially desirable behaviors such as hand washing; the vast majority of participants reported practicing these behaviors but they were not observed doing so. Cutting board washing also was considerably over-reported, questioning the validity of these self-reported data for regression analyses. There was a significant association (P < 0.05) between proper thawing method and prior food safety education, use of cutting board and higher income, and washing tomatoes and having a positive attitude towards food safety. Results revealed that overreporting errors must be considered when analyzing and/or interpreting data derived from self-reported food safety consumer surveys and that food safety education and positive food safety attitudes are associated with recommended food safety behaviors.

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