Investigation of Food Safety Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behavior for Analyzing Food Safety Risk Factors in the Elderly

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate food safety knowledge, food safety attitudes, and handling behavior in the elderly. The survey was conducted on 358 individuals over 65 years old in urban and rural areas. Data were analyzed with descriptive analysis and χ 2 test analysis of variance using SPSS. From the results on elderly's food safety knowledge, the item 'tangerines should be washed before eating' was correctly answered by urban subjects (75.4%) than rural subjects (49.7%). 'Is it okay to cook meat left on the sink since afternoon in the evening' showed the lowest correct answer rate in both urban (23.1%) and rural (31.9%) subjects. For the item related to food keeping, 'Bacterial cells do not multiply in Samgyetang when it is kept in a refrigerator right after boiling thoroughly', 58.5% of urban and 54.6% of rural elderly answered correctly. Most elderly people showed a tendency to think that boiled foods might be safe to eat. Secondly, for food safety attitudes, urban elderly had more proper attitude regarding the item, 'Namul is very tasty only when mixed with bare hands' (disagree rate 34.9%) than rural elderly (P<0.05)'. On the other hand, rural elderly had more positive attitudes regarding the store principle "first in, first out" compared to urban elderly (P<0.001). Thirdly, regarding food safety behaviors, only 67.9% of urban and 58.7% of rural elderly responded that they washed their hands right after answering the telephone while cooking. Exactly 33.8% of urban and 39.6% of rural older people replied 'defrost meat on top of sink or table' as the defrost method for frozen foods, showing that elderly did not recognize the risk of foodborne illness during improper defrosting at room temperature.

Can tailored home-delivered meal services alleviate self-rated frailty of the low-income older adults in Korea?

“…To estimate the impact of the tailored HDM services, the study assessed changes in the participants’ health status from before and after the services were rendered. With frailty [ 12 32 ] the instruments determining the dietary status and health risks of the participants are as follows: depression [ 33 34 ], malnutrition [ 35 36 ], dietary hygiene safety [ 37 ], food security [ 38 ], and diagnoses of disease from doctors.…”

“…Dietary hygiene safety status was quantified with 7 items related to personal hygiene, food stores, and food preparation in meal management at home [ 37 ]. The total score ranges from 0 to 10, categorized by the distribution of samples into 3 groups: less than 7.5 means poor dietary hygiene safety; 7.5 to 9.0 means improving; and 7.5 to 10 means great.…”