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The overall objectives of this study are to enhance the awareness of students and other consumers in Southwest Mississippi Counties about various aspects of food safety practices. It will seek to educate consumers, foodservice outfits and other businesses on safety of foods so that recommendations can be made to ensure the dissemination of safe foods practices. <P> The specific objectives are: <ul> <LI>Evaluate the impact of food safety practices and the risk of food borne illness in selected counties in Southwest Mississippi. <LI>Develop a curriculum to promote food safety practices among students, consumers and businesses. <LI>Provide educational resources to be disseminated to consumers and to ensure that they keep abreast with the most common food safety information practices. <LI>Provide general food safety awareness training to improve consumer understanding of the risk of foodborne illness.</ul>Expected Outcomes: This project will generate numerous benefits, both social and economic to the focus communities that will be studied, and for organizations and businesses within the communities that are interested in the health and well-being of its consumers. Beyond the scope of the duration of the project the following outcome will be realized. Participating counties will increase their level of awareness of food safety, including food-borne illness. They will be presented with updated information of how food safety intervention can reduce the incidence of foodborne illness and have a positive impact on their economic well-being. There will be an increased number of participants who use correct and healthier methods to prepare foods. There will be a greater number of community residents that utilize the information and learning skills to help maintain healthy lifestyle and community. Increase in the number of businesses and organizations that will be more economic viable because there will be more healthy employees as they continue to address and eliminate causes of microbial resistance to contaminants. There will be a comprehensive curriculum for implementation in the schools and community. There will be an increase number of consumers that will utilize learning skills and information to promote and maintain healthy life style among their peers. The number of students that will spread the awareness of food safety and hygiene practices within their community will be increased. An increase in the number of consumer who will acquire the skills and know-how to manage food safety hazards.
Non-Technical Summary: Food safety, including foodborne illness has been a major concern for decades. While the food supply in the United States is one of the safest in the world, Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, estimates that 76 million people get sick, more than 325,000 are hospitalized and 5,000 deaths annually from foodborne illnesses, and may contribute to long-term disease in more than 1 million Americans (Mead et al, 1999). Food safety is of greater importance now than it has ever been. Business level, international trade, retail pressure and the ever increasing consumer demands dictate that safe manufacturing, retail, and transportation of food from sources to dinner plates is in place. Preventing foodborne illnesses and deaths remains a major public health challenge. Although food safety involves physical, chemical, and microbial causes, recent trends have shown microbial defects; especially pathogenic bacteria have been a major problem in the food industry and have affected the industry greatly. To many consumers, safe foods mean that there will be no danger from pathogenic microorganisms, naturally occurring toxins and other potentially harmful chemicals which maybe deliberately added to foods. The economic impact of this problem is considerable, with an estimated $420 spent on direct medical costs and $152 billion attributed to lost productivity annually. Food safety is first and foremost the responsibility of food producers, processors and others throughout the food chain, including consumers but, with recent increases in reported outbreak of food related illnesses have spurred Congress to respond to the public's growing concern over food safety with new legislation purported to strengthen the food safety system. Congress's actions reflect the common perception that food is becoming less safe (U.S. CDC, 2009). A key question is whether legislation that leads to more regulations and inspections will result in significant improvements in food safety. The FDA now has oversight of more than 3 million food facilities including farms, trucks, trains, airplanes, processing plants, packers, repackers, labelers, restaurants, nursing homes, prisons, schools, universities, military bases, cruise ships, warehouses, and mailed foods (U.S.FDA, 2007). Congress has also charged it with inspecting 2 million farms, over 900,000 restaurants, 114,000 grocery retail outlets, and 189,000 other food facilities. Currently, the FDA inspects domestic food manufacturing plants about once every 10 years. <P> Approach: Currently,the department of agriculture does not have a food safety course built in to its curricula. It is,therefore, the opinion of administrators and faculty that in order to better understand various aspects of food safety and promote incremental curriculum changes, food safety education and research should be a priority. Hence, we are proposing to develop a curriculum that will expose students to current knowledge, techniques, practices, and principles of food safety, food quality, food security and food-borne illnesses. Since maintaining food safety, quality, and security are essential, education and training are paramount in improving consumers' way of life and well-being. A comprehensive food safety curriculum will be developed at the end of data collection, decoding and analysis. Emphasis will be placed on understanding consumer behavior, food preparation, food safety and distribution in schools, businesses, organizations; food safety management practices, causes and prevention of food-borne diseases. Also, building food safety into our food system, federal programs on food safety and biological and chemical foodborne illnesses is paramount. Both primary and secondary data will be used to evaluate consumer behavior,food preparation and distribution practices. Primary data including social-psychological components will be included in questionnaires and will be used to evaluate factors that influence consumer behavior and how they affect peoples' food preparation and consumption practices. The survey instrument will also be designed to collect information from the local food service sectors, business sectors and local residents to evaluate the overall food preparation, distribution and preparation practices. Accumulated data will help to determine the economic impact of the communities overall health sector. Emphasis will also be placed on demographic and socio-economic factors that affect consumers. An important question will be to determine the main differences that exist in food preparation practices in food services, households and businesses in the community. Secondary data will support the project by providing background information. The questionnaire will consist of several parts designed to collect data from residents, schools, businesses, organizations, and agencies. It will be designed to ascertain and evaluate the food safety practices and the likely reasons for the periodic outbreaks of food borne illness in certain communities. Results will give insight into the individual's level of knowledge on food safety, foodborne illnesses,causes and prevention. It will be important to understand the impact of these illnesses on individuals, County and the state as a whole. This will also provide information for the development of a comprehensive curriculum to be used to educate consumers within the communities on food safety practices. Data will be analyzed using various statistical methods, such as, Factor analysis, Cross-tabulation, ANOVA, Correlation, and other methods as required. After primary data collection and analysis, research publications, brochures, fact sheet, etc. will be developed and disseminated to stakeholders.