U.S. Food and Drug Administration
FDA Consumer
September - October 1999

Keeping Food Safety Surveys Honest

Video Checks Up on Consumer Meal Preps

by Paula Kurtzweil

With their kitchens as backdrops, cooking utensils as props, and a supporting cast of family members, up to 150 folks in Logan, Utah, are going before a camera to let food safety experts see just how well they practice food safety in their homes.

The home-based videotapings are part of a pilot study funded by the Food and Drug Administration to learn whether consumers actually do in the kitchen what they say they do in telephone surveys. The cameras will film people as they prepare a recipe provided by the research team. The footage will then be evaluated to identify specific food-handling steps.

"Preliminary data shows that consumers are not as vigilant as they say they are," says Alan Levy, Ph.D., the consumer studies team leader in FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. He says final results will be available in early 2000.

According to Levy, the purpose of the in-home study is to compare the accuracy of consumer practices stated in telephone surveys with what is actually done in the home. "And we want to identify the real problems--where people are making mistakes without realizing it," he says.

The telephone surveys, including one FDA conducted in 1998, give consumers mixed reviews on their food-handling practices. For example, FDA's 1998 survey shows that, when compared with data collected in 1993, consumers are becoming more aware of food safety hazards. However, many consumers still practice risky behaviors, such as eating raw eggs and foods containing raw eggs, and eating cooked meat without first using a thermometer to check for the proper internal temperature.

"There have been quite impressive improvements in people's food safety behavior," says Sara Fein, Ph.D., a consumer science specialist with the consumer studies team. "But there are still risky consumption behaviors across the board."

The survey of a random sample of 2,001 U.S. adults was conducted February through April 1998. Among the improvements identified in the survey were:

• Greater awareness of food safety problems. More than 90 percent of respondents had heard of Salmonella bacteria as a problem in food, compared with 84 percent in 1993. And the percentage of adults who recognized either Listeria or Campylobacter as microbial food pathogens increased 40 percent between 1993 and 1998.
• Greater knowledge of food safety issues. The percentage who knew Salmonella could be killed by cooking increased 60 percent between 1993 and 1998, and 25 percent of respondents knew that kidney failure was a possible outcome of food-borne illness in 1998, compared with 18 percent in 1993.
• Improved food safety practices. The percentage of people who said they do not wash their hands with soap after handling meat decreased from 34 percent in 1993 to 24 percent in 1998. Also, the percent who said they do not wash their cutting boards after handling meat decreased from 32 percent in 1993 to 21 percent in 1998.

But there are some lingering problems. Among them:

• Little knowledge or acceptance of self as a source of food-borne contamination. Though the percentage of respondents who cited the home as the most likely place for food safety problems to occur rose from 9 percent in 1993 to 15 percent in 1998, food manufacturing plants and restaurants were seen as the more likely sources. In 1998, 38 percent of respondents cited plants as the most likely site (up from 35 percent in 1993), and 27 percent cited restaurants (up from 22 percent in 1993).
• Risky food practices. Though there was a decline of 15 percentage points from 1993, 37 percent of respondents in 1998 said they still eat raw eggs. And 65 percent said they do not wash their hands after handling raw eggs. Twelve percent said they eat raw oysters. Only 6 percent of respondents in 1998 said they use a thermometer to check hamburger for doneness.

According to Levy and Fein, these surveys are important for determining the adequacy of current government programs and identifying future needs. "There are some concerns over whether people do what they say they're doing," Levy said. "But right now, these surveys are our best predictor of safe eating habits."

Paula Kurtzweil is a member of FDA's public affairs staff.

See "How Consumers Fight Bac" (147K PDF file)
for information about some consumer food safety practices.

Simple Steps to Safer Food in the Home

Wash hands and surfaces often.

• Wash hands with hot soapy water before preparing food and after using the bathroom, changing diapers, and handling pets. Moisten hands, apply soap, and rub hands together for 20 seconds before rinsing with water.
• Wash knives, utensils and counter tops in hot, soapy water after preparing each food item and before going on to the next one.
• Use plastic or other non-porous cutting boards. Wash them in hot, soapy water. Try to run them through an automatic dishwasher, as well. If possible, use one cutting board for raw meat, poultry and seafood and another for salads and other ready-to-eat foods.
• Use paper towels instead of wash cloths and towels to clean up kitchen surfaces. If you do use wash cloths and towels, wash them often in the hot cycle of the washing machine.

Don't cross-contaminate (spread bacteria from one source to another).

• When shopping, keep raw meat, poultry and seafood apart from other food in the grocery cart.
• Store raw meat, poultry and seafood on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator so that raw juices don't drip onto other foods and contaminate them.
• Don't place cooked food on an unwashed plate that just contained raw meat, poultry or seafood.

Cook to proper temperatures.

• Stick meat thermometers inside of foods to make sure they are cooked all the way through.
• Heat leftovers to 165 F (74 C).
• Cook fish until it is opaque and flakes easily with a fork.
• Follow the package cooking directions when microwaving food.

Refrigerate promptly.

• Keep the temperature of the refrigerator at 40 F (4 C) and the freezer at zero F (-18 C). Occasionally check the temperatures with an appliance thermometer.
• Refrigerate or freeze food within two hours of being at room temperature.
• Defrost food in the refrigerator, under cold running water, or in the microwave--never at room temperature, such as on the kitchen counter.
• Marinate foods in the refrigerator, not at room temperature--for example, on the kitchen counter.
• For stuffed poultry, remove the stuffing and refrigerate separately from the meat.
• Pack items loosely in the refrigerator to allow air to circulate properly.

Food Safety Resources

By Phone:

U.S. Department of Agriculture Meat and Poultry Hotline
1-800-535-4555
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday
Recorded messages available 24 hours a day

Food and Drug Administration Food Information and Seafood Hotline
1-800-332-4010
Noon to 4 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday
Recorded messages and fax service available 24 hours a day

On the Internet:

www.foodsafety.gov/~dms/fs-toc.html

www.cfsan.fda.gov/~mow/foodborn.html

www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/foodborn/foodborn.htm

www.fsis.usda.gov/OA/pubs/consumerpubs.htm

www.epa.gov/OGWDW/Pubs/

www.epa.gov/pesticides/consumer.htm

This is a mirror of the page at http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/1999/599_food.html