The effect of food-safety education on food-handling practices

Abstract

Objectives: In developed countries, despite development in food-safety systems, foodbourne illness is still prevalent. Although the mortality rate is low, the measure of morbidity is still significant. Almost 45% of foodbourne of reported foodbourne illnesses in Malta is estimated to be contracted from inappropriate food-handling in the domestic environment. Foodbourne illness can be prevented if consumers adopted the correct food-handling practices. The purpose of this dissertation is to determine from the current evidence available, if better education in food-safety can improve food-handling practices of food prepared at home. Research question: In adults who prepare food at home, does food-safety education improve food-handling practices? A strategic search has been conducted in order to find the best evidence available to address the research question. The majority of the studies were retrieved from online databases (UOM e-library, PubMed and EMERALD), with the exception of one study, that was found through personal contacts. Only studies that were carried out in developed countries investigating adults' food-safety education and practices were eligible for inclusion. Studies which focused on catering establishments and vulnerable groups were excluded. Twelve studies meeting the inclusion criteria were found: 2 systemic reviews, 1 longitudinal study, 1 mixed method and 8 cross-sectional studies. All studies have been appraised with either the CASP tool or CEMBa appraisal tools according to the methodology of study in order to answer the research question. From the evidence provided it has been found that knowledge in food-safety does not necessarily translate in good food-handling practices. The effect of education on foodhandling practices rendered the comparison to be inconclusive due to several discrepancies that have been identified during the appraisal. The results highlight the need that more research is required in order to pursue an answer to this research question. It is also important that research is carried out with stronger methodologies higher on the hierarchy of evidence.