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CFSAN Consumer Studies Branch
Below are research abstracts of consumer research studies conducted or supported by the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
The FDA Food Safety Survey: A Data Resource
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Food Safety Survey is a single-stage, random-digit-dialing tracking survey of a nationally representative sample of American consumers. Data were collected in 1988, 1993, 1998, and 2001, with sample sizes of 3,200, 1,620, 2,001, and 4,482, respectively. The purpose of the survey is to track American consumers' knowledge, behavior, and perceptions on a number of food-safety related topics. These topics include 1) perception of individual and societal risk related to food consumption, 2) food handling, 3) food product safety label understanding and usage, 4) consumption of potentially risky foods, 5) attitude toward new food technologies, 6) perception, knowledge, and experience with foodborne illness, and 7) food safety knowledge sources. In addition, each wave queries consumers on recent FDA food safety advisories and other topics of current interest to the FDA. The 2001 data set includes consumers' experience with food allergies. The available demographic information includes gender, age, education, race/ethnicity, household size, health status, region, and household income.
Consumers' Assessment of the Food Safety Problem for Meals Prepared at Home and Reactions to Food Safety Labeling.
2001. Brian Roe, Mario F.Teisl, Alan S. Levy, Kevin Boyle, Mark L Messonnier, T. Lynn Riggs, Melissa J. Herrmann, and Felicia M. Newman. Journal of Food Products Marketing. 6(4):9-26.
To identify if differences in food safety risk can be effectively and credibly communicated, we conducted eight focus groups. This article summarizes these focus groups and reports how consumers frame the issues surrounding the food safety problem and how consumers react to label-based communications of food safety characteristics. We find consumers have broad, moderate food safety concerns, a wide but spotty understanding of food borne illness prevention and consequences, and a healthy skepticism concerning food safety claims. We identity two forms of labeling that show promise with regard to consumer acceptance and credibility in communicating brand-level and package-level differences in the risk of food borne illness and discuss implications for consumer valuation of such differences.
Consumer Knowledge of Foodborne Microbial Hazards and Food-Handling Practices.
1995. Sean F. Altekruse, Debra A. Street, Sara B. Fein, and Alan S. Levy. Journal of Food Protection 59(3)287-294.
A national telephone survey was conducted of 1,620 randomly selected U.S. residents who spoke English, were at least 18 years old, and resided in households with kitchen facilities. Respondents were interviewed about their recognition of foodborne pathogens, foods at risk for transmitting infection, knowledge of safe food handling, and food handling practices. One-third of the respondents who prepared meals reported unsafe food hygiene practices: e.g., they did not wash hands or take precautions to prevent cross-contamination from raw meat. Unsafe practices were reported more often by men, persons 18 to 29 years of age and occasional food preparers than by women, persons 30 years old or older, and frequent food preparers. Respondents who identified a food vehicle for Salmonella spp. were more likely to report washing their hands and cleaning cutting boards after preparing raw meat and poultry. The results raise concerns about consumer food-handling practices. The influence of food safety training, food-handling experience, and age on food-handling practices should be studied further. Awareness of a food vehicle for Salmonella spp., for example, may indicate knowledge of the etiology of foodborne disease that promotes safe food handling. Understanding the factors associated with safe food handling will assist in development of effective safe-food instruction programs.
Foodborne Illness: Perceptions, Experience, and Preventive Behaviors in the United States.
1995. Sara B. Fein, C. T. Jordan Lin, and Alan S. Levy. Journal of Food Protection 58(12):1405-1411.
Data from national telephone surveys conducted in 1988 and 1993 were used to describe consumer perceptions of foodborne illness. The 1993 data were also used to assess the relationship between the perception that a foodborne illness had recently been experienced and awareness, concern, knowledge, and behavior related to food safety. Respondents described foodborne disease primarily as a minor illness without fever that occurs within a day of eating contaminated food prepared in a restaurant. However, several common pathogens have latency period longer than a day, and experts on foodborne disease estimate that most cases of foodborne illness originate from foods prepared at home. In both surveys, people 18 to 39 years of age were more likely than those in other age groups to believe they had experienced a foodborne illness. In 1993, people with at least some college education were more likely to believe they had experienced foodborne illness than were people with less education. People who believed they had experienced foodborne illness had greater awareness of foodborne microbes and concern about food safety issues, were more likely to eat raw protein foods from animals, and were less likely to practice safe food handling than were those who did not perceive that they had experienced such an illness.
Prevalence of Selected Food Consumption and Preparation Behaviors Associated with Increased Risks of Food-borne Disease.
1995. Karl C. Klontz, Babgaleh Timbo, Sara Fein, and Alan Levy. Journal of Food Protection 58(8): 927-930.
Although not well quantified, a portion of food-borne illness results from voluntary behaviors that are entirely avoidable, such as eating raw foods of animal origin or engaging in unsafe food preparation practices. A telephone survey of 1,620 respondents was conducted to assess the prevalence of selected self-reported food consumption and preparation behaviors associated with increased risks of food-borne illness and the demographic characteristics related to such behaviors. The percentages of survey respondents who reported consuming raw foods of animal origin were 53%, raw eggs; 23%, undercooked hamburgers; 17%, raw clams or oysters; and 8%, raw sushi or ceviche. A fourth of the respondents said that after cutting raw meat or chicken, they use the cutting board again without cleaning it. Safer food consumption and preparation behaviors were consistently reported by persons who were female, were at least 40 years old, and had a high school education or less. These findings suggest that risky food consumption and preparation behaviors are common in the United States and that educational campaigns aimed at changing these behaviors may need to be targeted to specific groups of persons.
Contact Linda.Verrill@fda.hhs.gov for more information about the above studies.
