Customizing Food Safety Training Programs for Ethnic Food Vendors

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: An increase in the ethnic populations in the United States has increased Americans exposure to foods and flavors from other cultures through ethnic restaurants, retail markets, and other means, making this sector one of the fastest-rising areas in the food industry. From 1990 to 2000 there has been an increase in the number of food borne illness outbreaks related to ethnic foods. If contamination levels were consistent, increased consumption of these foods would be expected to lead to greater numbers of illnesses over this time. Because food safety issues may differ by region based on cultures, diets, local conditions, and other infrastructures, the question is whether this increase is due to usual causes or due to the confounding differences in specific risks with foods from different regions. The specific research aims are to assess the food safety training needs for the food services or vendors of ethnic foods; to evaluate menu items, ingredients, preparation and serving practices and correlate them to the prevalence of selected food borne illnesses, and to better understand time temperature relationships of selected ethnic food items. Research results will be used to develop food safety curricula for vendors of Asian and Mexican foods, addressing specific issues related to these ethnic foods. The information will be disseminated to vendors and food professionals. The last part of the project will be dedicated to the evaluation of the knowledge gains and the effectiveness of the curricula for improving safe ethnic food handling practices by vendors.

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APPROACH: To achieve research objectives both multiple surveys and laboratory procedures will be conducted during the project period. The surveys will provide a comprehensive overview of conditions and behaviors. A variety of research methods will be used. All surveys conducted will contain a battery of items assessing various sociodemographic characteristics. The samples drawn will be validated by comparison of survey respondent characteristics to US Census and Florida/California State Employment Data. In order to evaluate menu items, ingredients, preparation, and serving procedures or practices which are common to those ethnic foods and correlate them to the current prevalence of foodborne illness, we planed to examine menu items of selected ethnic foods first, then perform microbial analyses of selected food items for aerobic plate counts, indicator microorganisms (Escherichia coli and coliform bacteria), Salmonella spp, Shigella spp that were implicated in the Mexican and Asian food outbreaks. We will also evaluate major ingredients for those foods, from both Florida and California. We also plan to examine growth and proliferation of the microorganisms based on possible abuse conditions (in foods or in specific ethnic ingredients) by consumers and food service operators. To understand time temperature relationships and interaction of key ingredients in ethnic food with respect to selected enteric bacteria such as Salmonella spp, B. cereus, and other microbes, many ingredients of ethnic foods that are not well known in the US food system will be studied in model systems to examine the effect of ethnic food ingredients in promoting or inhibiting growth of selected microorganisms. Research results will be used for developing curricula including lesson plans, fact sheets, posters, and other support materials specifically for ethnic food restaurant vendors, mangers, and consumers. The contents of the curricula will cover areas where deficiencies are observed based on the surveys. Developed curricula will be used to train extension faculty who teach food safety and the food manager certification program, and to disseminate information to food vendors and other interested parties finally, we planed to evaluate effectiveness of the curricula for improving safe food handling practices and increasing specific food safety knowledge for specific ethnic food
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PROGRESS: 2007/09 TO 2008/08 <BR>
OUTPUTS: Currently the knowledge has been disseminated to health inspectors and educators at various scientific meeting and educational event. Since the formal extension education part of the project for primary audiences (ethnic food vendors) is yet to start during the third year of the project we have yet to quantify changes in procedures. Based on our current results (both paper survey and interview) we found that current food safety training materials needed to be modified to meet the culture and language need of the ethnic community. Current food safety materials are often too difficult for certain types of restaurants to follow because the kitchen settings are not applicable to them. We have gained some insight for future development of food safety materials specifically for Asian and Hispanic restaurants. <BR>
PARTICIPANTS: UC Davis and Chapman University <BR>
TARGET AUDIENCES: Ethnic food vendors including restaurants and retailers PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
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IMPACT: 2007/09 TO 2008/08<BR>

Ethnic foods have become popular in this country and some vendors may not know how to handle them properly. Once it is completed, this project will provide relevant food safety information and training materials for vendors as well as consumers for these popular ethnic foods and thereby reducing overall food safety in the US.