Food Protection Trends - July/August 2021 - 406

TABLE 4. Impact of food safety educational materials on food-handling practices reported
by retail food establishment managers (n = 11), USVI
Question
1 Use of materials
Response
Posted them on wall
Referred to them during training
Distributed them to employees
Ongoing (posted)
2 How often materials were used Multiple training sessions
Once
Personal hygiene (hand washing, trimming fingernails, clean clothing,
hairnet use, and removal of jewelry)
3 Behavior changes witnessed
Temperature control (timely storage of food at delivery and during
preparation, using a thermometer when cooking, and installing one in
storage coolers)
Cross-contamination (proper glove use, separate cutting boards,
cleaning work surfaces, and separate food in the refrigerator)
Cleaning (cleaning the ice machine, scrubbing floors, and using a
sanitizer bucket)
4 Contributing factors
5
6
Challenges
Additional resources requested
Using materials provided to us
Staff oversight
Difficult to change people's behavior
Keeping them on the wall or limited space
Create a website with information and a quiz
Use pictures of food with fingernails and spoiled temperature-abused food
Space
Hiring staff to train on these aspects
and sanitizing of ice machines and floors (n = 7 of 34) were
reported by managers. The changes in behavior and practices
noted in this study could be attributed to the possibility that
educational materials presented an opportunity for managers
to strengthen or start a discussion with employees about
safe food-handling practices. The educational materials
were readily available at the establishments and therefore
provided continuous learning for food handlers and were
used as reference materials during training and orientation
of employees. These results are consistent with other
studies that found improvement in food-handling practices
after integrating both food safety knowledge and behavior
in interventions (26, 28, 50, 51). Most managers in this
study had taken some form of food safety training, such as
ServSafe, food-handler training provided by a local health
department, or training from previous chefs. Managers had
at least 10 years of food service experience practicing and
mastering safe food-handling practices, which gave them
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5
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12
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7
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the confidence to teach other food handlers with the help of
these materials. Hedberg et al. (17), Kassa et al. (21), and
Liggans et al. (24) found that employees in restaurants with
managers trained in food safety are more likely to practice
safe food-handling practices and that such restaurants
are less likely to appear in outbreaks. Respondents in this
study reported experiencing difficulty in convincing food
handlers to pay attention when handling food and having
them perform safe food-handling practices consistently.
Other studies support the challenge of food handlers
transferring food safety knowledge into behavior (12, 50).
This study found positive change in food-handling practices,
possibly because we involved the management in the needs
assessment and development of materials, which improved
the materials' usefulness and the managers' commitment
to reinforcing food-handling practices (10). We also used
figures and photographs with minimal text in these materials
and translated materials to Spanish, a native language of
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