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This research project will obtain data on domestic food preparation to use for communicating information about hazards and for a food safety health education initiative.
<p>The prevention of food poisoning involves all stages of the food chain and effective food safety strategies require an approach that integrates legislation and education to minimise the risk of pathogenic contamination.
<p>Epidemiological data has shown the domestic environment to be an important location for cases of food poisoning. During the past decade, between 12% and 62% of reported food poisoning outbreaks in England and Wales, Europe and the USA have been associated with food prepared/consumed in the home.
<p>The purpose of this project was to obtain microbiological and observational data on domestic food preparation to use as a basis for communicating information about hazards and risk in a social marketing framework in the context of a food safety health education initiative.
Approaches to be used are:<ul>
<li>Observational techniques to investigate consumer safety practices during food preparation in the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, control kitchen
<li>Microbiological analysis of the kitchen environment after the preparation of food by consumers for isolation of campylobacter and salmonella
<li>Moderated focus groups to obtain consumer perceptions of risk, information on food preparation and attitudes to aspects of food safety and food preparation and intervention materials/methods
<li>A consumer orientated social marketing approach as a framework for the food safety education community initiative
<li>Evaluation of the effectiveness of the intervention using observation and microbiological assessment</li></ul>
<p> Find more about this project and other FSA food safety-related projects at the <a href="http://www.food.gov.uk/science/research/" target="_blank">Food Standards Agency Research webpage</a>.