Food Protection Trends - November 2009 - 793

GENERAL INTEREST PAPER History of Consumer Food Safety Education Focus on Beef: Impact on Risk of Foodborne Illness CHRISTINE M. BRUHN Center for Consumer Research, Dept. of Food Science and Technology, University of California–Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA SUMMARY In the past, food safety topics of public concern appeared to be limited to chemical contamination, pesticide residues, and the occasional case of stomach flu that made the victim miserable for a few hours. In recent years, the public has come to recognize that microbiological safety can have serious, long-term consequences. This paper traces the history of consumer food safety educational programs over the past three decades by examining food safety references and the content of educational material Over this period, advice to the consumer has evolved from general guidelines to specific targeted messages. Changes in consumer knowledge and behavior, as indicated by surveys and actual observation, indicate that programs have had a positive but limited effect. These findings suggest that additional measures are required by the food production/processing and retail/food service industries to reduce the incidence of life-threatening foodborne illness. While this article focuses on ground beef, the findings apply to many food categories, including fresh produce. EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS Food safety education is delivered by the federal government through the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). States are involved in development and delivery of educational programs through Cooperative Extension at land grant institutions. Food industry organizations engage in general or product-specific information on safe handling, often combined with guidelines on selection and preparation for flavorful dishes. Since the late 1990s, a partnership of educators and government, food industry, and non-government organizations has played a major role in defining and delivering food safety information. FOOD SAFETY OVER THE DECADES Awareness of pathogens and food safety messages has evolved over the past three decades. Textbooks used in college and university food science classes designed for home economists and dietitians provide only a cursorily overview of food safety. Classic textbooks published in the 1950s and 1960s address the chemical, physical and nutritional changes that take place in food during food preparation but do not address food safety(13, 20, 25). Botulism, staphylococcal food poisoning, salmonellosis and Clostridium perfringens are briefly mentioned by Bennion in 1980 (12). A more extensive discussion of food safety is included in Foundations of Food Preparation, which was published in 1987 (19). Major pathogens such as Clostridium botulinum and Salmonella are mentioned, but pathogenic E. coli is not identified. The authors state that the most important factors to prevent foodborne illness are the application of heat, adequate refrigeration, safe thawing, length of storage, storage conditions, and proper sanitation. Details are provided on appropriate refrigerator temperature and storage time; however, end cooking temperatures are indicated only for stuffed turkey. Information from the FDA food safety material in the early 1980s is more extensive than that in college-level textbooks, but food safety guidelines lack specific details that would result in safe handling. For example, “Who, Why, When and Where of Food Poisons (And What to Do about Them)” published in the FDA Consumer reports that Salmonella could be found in raw meat (10). To prevent foodborne illness, readers are advised to handle food in a sanitary manner, cook foods thoroughly, and promptly and properly refrigerate foods. Similarly, the discussion of staphylococcal food poisoning indicates that a toxin is formed when food, including meat, is held at room temperature for too long. Advice for preventing this condition, the same general precautions associated with Salmonella control, is repeated here. People are advised to handle food in a sanitary manner with prompt and proper refrigeration. Because details of handling are not specified, consumer adoption of effective food handling practices is unlikely. Food safety material developed by USDA ten years later is more specific. The publication, Is NOVEMBER 2009 | FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS

http://www.foodprotection.org/files/food-protection-trends/Nov-09-Bruhn.pdf

Food Protection Trends - November 2009

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