Trends in U.S. Consumers’ Safe Handling and Consumption of Food and Their Risk Perceptions, 1988 through 2010

Abstract

Although survey results measuring the safety of consumers' food handling and risky food consumption practices have been published for over 20 years, evaluation of trends is impossible because the designs of published studies are not comparable. The Food Safety Surveys used comparable methods to interview U.S. adults by telephone in 1988, 1993, 2001, 2006, and 2010 about food handling (i.e., cross-contamination prevention) and risky consumption practices (eating raw or undercooked foods from animals) and perceived risk from foodborne illness. Sample sizes ranged from 1,620 to 4,547. Responses were analyzed descriptively, and four indices measuring meat, chicken, and egg cross-contamination, fish cross-contamination, risky consumption, and risk perceptions were analyzed using generalized linear models. The extent of media coverage of food safety issues was also examined. We found a substantial improvement in food handling and consumption practices and an increase in perceived risk from foodborne illness between 1993 and 1998. All indices were stable or declined between 1998 and 2006. Between 2006 and 2010, the two safe food handling practice indices increased significantly, but risk perceptions did not change, and safe consumption declined. Women had safer food handling and consumption practices than men. The oldest and youngest respondents and those with the highest education had the least safe food handling behaviors. Changes in safety of practices over the survey years are consistent with the change in the number of media stories about food safety in the periods between surveys. This finding suggests that increased media attention to food safety issues may raise awareness of food safety hazards and increase vigilance in food handling by consumers.

Presence of animal feeding operations and community socioeconomic factors impact salmonellosis incidence rates: An ecological analysis using data from the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet), 2004–2010

“…A potential reason why higher percentages of Hispanics in zip codes in Georgia and Maryland could be protective with regard to salmonellosis incidence could be due to safe food handling practices among Hispanics cooking in the home. Fein et al (2011) showed that Hispanic populations are characterized by significantly lower meat, chicken, egg and fish cross contamination scores than other races and ethnicities (Fein et al, 2011). However, a previous study by Patil et al (2005) showed that Hispanics were similar to Caucasians with regard to safe food handling practices (Patil et al, 2005).…”

Foodborne disease risk factors among women in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

“…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 .…”

Women's Behaviors and Views on Home Food Safety in Tehran: A Qualitative Study

“…They were also assured that their names and wordings would not be revealed to anyone other than the research team. Moderator's guide was designed based on the research objectives (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20), which consisted of a series of open-ended questions to allow the respondents to explain their own opinions and experiences (Table 1). Each team consisted of one moderator, one observer and two note-takers.…”