Community awareness of safe food handling practices & food poisoning: knowledge & experience

Abstract

Food poisoning is a serious problem in New Zealand. There has been a 240% increase in reported cases 1980-1990 and estimates of 300, 000 cases per annum. This study was a conceptual replication of a telephone survey conducted by Hodges (1993) on community awareness of safe food handling practices. A mail survey was conducted in the greater Wellington region. A sample of 500 people selected in a stratified random sample of Wellington region electoral rolls, were posted questionnaires and invited to take part by completing and returning the questionnaire. A total of 234 responses were obtained (response rate = 53%). Respondents were asked a variety of questions about their knowledge of safe food handling practices and experience of food poisoning. The study found a similar proportion of respondents who believed that they had experienced one or more definite or suspected cases of food poisoning as did Hodges' 1993 study. This suggests that annually approximately 10 percent of the New Zealand population (350 000) may experience one or more mild through to severe cases of food poisoning annually. Overall, respondents were reasonably clear about the key pathways by which microorganisms and toxins can be introduced into food, correct kitchen storage practices and maximum storage times for refrigerated foods. Best before and use-by-dates were generally well understood. However, agreement with selected key domestic food handling practices was not universal, with low numbers of respondents aware of the best way to store certain foods, thaw frozen meats, and other important domestic food handling practices. In combination these factors are likely to contribute to New Zealands' unacceptably high rate of food poisoning. This study concludes that the high degree of consistency between the two studies suggests there is a testable, baseline level of understanding in the community. This level of awareness, could be monitored over time as part of health education programmes using the measurement tools developed by Hodges and in the course of this study.