Food Safety Hazards Lurk in the Kitchens of Young Adults

Abstract

Food mishandling in home kitchens likely causes a significant amount of foodborne disease; however, little is known about the food safety hazards lurking in home kitchens. The purposes of this study were to audit the kitchens of young adults with education beyond high school to identify food safety problems and develop recommendations for education efforts. Researchers developed a criterion-referenced home kitchen observation instrument to assess compliance of home food storage and rotation practices (e.g., temperature), sanitation and chemical storage, and general kitchen condition (e.g., infestation) with recommended practices. The instrument contained seven scales: Kitchen Cleanliness (eight items), Appliance Cleanliness (three items), Cleaning Supplies Availability (eight items), Temperatures (Food Thermometer Access & Refrigerator/Freezer Temperatures) (five items), Cold Food Storage (seven items), Dry Food Storage (eight items), and Poisons Storage (two items). Descriptive statistics were conducted to describe the study population, as a whole, and by gender. A total of 154 young adults (mean age, 20.7+/- 1.3 SD) enrolled in a northeastern university participated. Participants scored 70% or higher on Poisons Storage, Dry Food Storage, Kitchen Cleanliness, and Cleaning Supplies Availability scales but less than 60% on the Appliance Cleanliness and Cold Food Storage scales. Performance was lowest on the Temperatures scale. Females scored significantly higher than males on the Kitchen Cleanliness and Cleaning Supply Availability scales. Average refrigerator and freezer temperatures were higher than recommendations. Food safety education targeted at this young adult population needs to evolve into focused messages pertaining to the key food safety violations in this population.

Foodborne disease risk factors among women in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

“…When asked regarding these products, 57.9% of NoI respondents and 61.44% of YesI respondents answered they consume such products within the 3-days period. Not knowing the correct fridge temperature, shelving of foods in the fridge (Byrd-Bredbenner et al, 2007), and shelf life of opened dairy products may represent a food safety risk for those who did not answer correctly (NoI, 42.1%; YesI, 38.56%).…”

“…As observational studies suggest, knowledge and self-reported behavior do not necessarily reflect the actual behavior (Behrens et al, 2010;Byrd-Bredbenner, Berning, Martin-Biggers, & Quick, 2013;Byrd-Bredbenner, Maurer, Wheatley, Cottone, & Clancy, 2007;DeDonder et al, 2009;Dharod et al, 2007;Fein, Lando, Levy, Teisl, & Noblet, 2011;Hoelzl et al 2013;Kindall et al, 2004;Phang & Bruhn, 2011;Worsfold & Griffith, 1997). However, an insight into what consumers know and what they need to be educated about can be obtained by such reported behavior .…”

A Case Study of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in a Food Safety Class

“…The observers found that the young adults performed approximately 50% of the recommended safe food-handling practices overall and only about 25% of the recommended hand washing procedures. In the online survey discussed previously, the results concerned with hand washing were interesting, because although young adults' knowledge of hand washing was high at 73%, just 36% were familiar with the most sanitary method to use for washing hands, and of that group, only 27% were observed practicing it (p < 0.0001; Byrd-Bredbenner, Maurer, Wheatley, Cottone, & Clancy, 2007b).…”

Food Safety Issues and Risk Associated with Refrigerated Foods

“…Compounding the cooling problem is that refrigerators often are packed so tightly with food that air circulation is restricted. Tight packing also increases food-to-food cross-contamination risk (Byrd-Bredbenner et al, 2007). Another aspect of -chill‖ is keeping perishable foods out of danger zone temperatures.…”