Development of a Consumer Food Safety Education Program for WIC Participants

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The American agricultural industry produces an abundance of high quality food products for market. However, the quality and safety of food consumed in the home depends on food storage and handling practices at the retail and consumer levels. Participants in Women, Infants and Children (WIC), a special supplemental food and nutrition program of the USDA, include pregnant women and young children who are especially at high risk for foodborne illness. WIC staff and participants currently receive little training in the area of food safety. In addition, there are few food safety education materials aimed at low-income consumers who may be limited in both literacy and language. This project proposes to assess food safety education needs of this group through two methods: 1) a survey of WIC directors at state and local levels and 2) focus groups of WIC nutritionists/dietitians and focus groups of WIC participants of various ethnic groups (white, Hispanic, African-american and Asian-american). A variety of bilingual (English and Spanish) educational materials of appropriate design and reading level will be developed for these low-income consumers. Food safety education for WIC participants should reduce incidence of foodborne illness and improve health for families in low-income socio-economic groups.

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APPROACH: During fall 2001, a nationwide mail survey will be conducted of state and local WIC directors to determine priority areas for food safety education for low-income women and appropriate methods of educational delivery. During spring/summer 2002 focus groups will be conducted with WIC nutritionists/dietitians and WIC participants in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Focus group participants will include individuals of various ethnic backgrounds (white, black, Hispanic and others). Topics for discussion will include food handling practices (shopping, storage, preparation, and service) of participants and other family members. Focus group discussions will be videotaped, audiotaped, transcribed and analyzed to determine key messages. Based on discussion results, an outline of food safety education topics for WIC participants will be developed. Bilingual educational materials at an appropriate reading level will be developed during the second year of the study. This is anticipated to include a videotape for WIC participants, interactive CD module for WIC staff and reproducible black and white handouts of key food safety messages. All educational materials will be pilot tested with WIC participants and staff to verify educational effectiveness. . The project will culminate with a mailing of high quality, reproducible educational materials to WIC directors in all 50 states. Statistical analyses will be conducted of pre-test and post-test results. <P>

PROGRESS: 2001/09 TO 2004/01<BR>
During spring 2003, we filmed two versions of the videotape "Food Safety for Families" in English and Spanish with the assistance of the Center for Media Production at the University of North Texas. Twenty-two volunteers (adults and children)were recruited as actresses or actors. Scenes were filmed at the Center for Media Production or in homes of the researchers. A professional bilingual narrator was used for the narration portions of the script. Researchers and several other professionals reviewed the tapes and made suggestions for editing. After the first version of the tape was found to be 28 minutes long, researchers decided to cut scenes dealing with grocery shopping in order to ensure that the time length would be suitable for a WIC nutrition education session. The final version of the videotape deals with four areas of safe food handling practices (clean, separate, cook, chill) and safe infant feeding (breast milk, formula, baby food). The English version is approximately 21 minutes long; the Spanish version is 25 minutes. A resource kit on a CD-disk was developed to accompany the videotapes. The kit included background information on foodborne illnesses and food safety, food safety web sites, lesson plans, games, activities, and handouts. Bilingual versions of food safety Bingo, word searches, crossword puzzles, handwashing activities, and a question/answer game were also included. A pre-test/post-test with 16 questions was developed and validated by the research team. The videotapes were tested with 8 groups of WIC clients (both English and Spanish) in Denton, Dallas, and Tarrant counties using the pre-test/ post-test as a measure of learning effectiveness. Thirty-seven individuals reviewed the English version, and 34 reviewed the Spanish version. A paired-sample t-test showed a statistically significant improvement in food safety knowledge of both English and Hispanic participants. For English participants, the mean pre-test score was 11.1(SD=2.1) and post-test 14.6 (SD=0.9) [P<0.001]. For Spanish participants, the mean pre-test score was 8.0 (SD=2.3)and post-test 11.4 (SD=3.7) [P<0.001]). Independent t-test results showed that participants in the English groups scored better than participants in Hispanic groups for both pre- and post-tests (P<0.001). However, both groups improved food safety knowledge as a result of viewing the videotape. In January 2004, packets containing the English and Spanish versions of the videotape, "Food Safety for Families" and the accompanying CD disk were mailed to 88 WIC directors at state WIC offices, Indian agencies, Guam, and American Samoa along with a letter encouraging them to duplicate materials for local WIC directors in their state or area. Preparation of an article describing this project is underway and should be submitted to a national journal by early summer.
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IMPACT: 2001/09 TO 2004/01<BR>
An educational packet on "Food Safety for Families" that includes two videotapes and a resource kit has been distributed to all state and Indian agency WIC directors with a letter sugesting that they duplicate and disseminate these materials for local WIC sites. If these materials are distributed and used by WIC nutritionists in nutrition education sessions with WIC clients, there should be an improvement in food safety knowledge and practices in the homes of WIC clients. We would also expect to see a reduction in the incidence of foodborne illnesses for families of WIC clients and others who use these educational materials. We have made additional copies of materials for sale to other educators and organizations. Information on these materials was submitted to Dianne Durant for inclusion in the Food Safety Educator published by USDA. We exhibited these materials at the Texas Association of Family & Consumer Sciences recently and plan to market them in additional ways in the future.