By Carol Church, Writer, Family Album

Reviewed by Amarat Simonne, PhD, Department of Family, Youth, and Community Sciences, University of Florida

Absolutely nobody wants to get food poisoning! The last time I experienced something like this, I got to feeling pretty mad at the restaurant I thought was responsible. The majority of foodborne illness cases do originate in restaurants or other food service establishments. But what about when food safety failures start in the home kitchen? We certainly all hope that we’re keeping ourselves and our families safe. But in practice, we may not be doing as well as we think.

Three Groups of Cooks Tested

That was the finding of a study recently published in the journal Food Protection Trends. To learn more about the real-life food handling practices of everyday people, three groups of parents of young children (about 120 adults) were asked to prepare a dish involving raw meat and a fresh fruit salad in a special kitchen equipped with hidden cameras. One group had received a 45-minute face-to-face presentation on food safety, one had watched four public service announcements focusing on food safety messages, and the last group watched an unrelated video.

A Clever Method to Track Contamination

The researchers observed the cooks’ behavior, noting what they did and didn’t do regarding handwashing, cleaning surfaces, and so on. However, they also used another clever method to see how things were really going. The meat they were given was inoculated with a safe “tracer” organism to see if cooks spread this harmless germ from the meat to the fruit salad. The idea was to mimic the possible spread of harmful microorganisms, like E. coli or Salmonella, from uncooked meat to other dishes.

Lots of Problems

When the fruit salads the cooks prepared were later tested, 90% were contaminated with the tracer organism! Twenty-five percent were considered heavily contaminated. How did this happen? Observation showed that many cooks did not do a good job with food safety rules after all.

For instance, while most remembered to wash their hands after handling the raw meat, many did not do so after throwing away meat packaging. Most did not clean the counter after working with raw meat. And it was very common to spread contamination through reusing dishcloths and towels that had been used to wipe up and clean meat juices. Handwashing practices also weren’t too great—many people didn’t wash long enough (less than 20 seconds) or use soap. As a result of all this, many surfaces in the kitchen, including towels, handles, and countertops, became contaminated…and so did the fruit salads.

Education Helped a Little

Did it help to receive food safety instruction and education? Somewhat. Those cooks washed their hands more, anyway. And overall, cooks who got the in-person education did a bit better on avoiding contamination. However, even with the knowledge that they were being videotaped, overall, the cooks didn’t do so well.

While most of us may know some basics of food safety (for instance, not using the same cutting board for meat and fruit), it can be easy to slip up and let old habits take over. And in some cases, we may not be aware of current recommendations. For our health, and that of our families and guests, it’s important to do a better job of following safe food handling practices. Want to learn more about food safety, and common mistakes you might be making? Visit the resources in Further Reading.

(Photo credit: DSC_0045 by Kesha Phillips. CC BY 2.0. Cropped.)

Further Reading:

Keeping Food Safe: Preparing and Cooking–from UF-IFAS EDIS

Cleaning and Sanitizing the Kitchen: Using Inexpensive Household Food-Safe Products–from UF-IFAS EDIS

Food Safety: Does Your Kitchen Pass the Test? –from UF-IFAS EDIS

Food Safety series –from UF-IFAS EDIS

Cleanliness Helps Prevent Foodborne Illness–from the USDA

Sneaky Salmonella: It’s Common, Costly, and Preventable–from foodsafety.gov

Test Your Produce Safety Savvy–from the CDC

References:

Sneed, J., et al. (2015). Consumer Food Handling Practices Lead to Cross-contamination. Food Protection Trends, 35(1), p. 36-48. Available at http://www.foodprotection.org/files/food-protection-trends/JAN-FEB-15-sneed.pdf

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