Safe food shouldn't just be for the affluent - and they're sorta clueless when it comes to food that makes them barf
Market research sucks. With food, people vote at the checkout counter with their wallets. Sitting at home, talking to some annoying survey person who only calls when dinner is about to be served reveals … nothing, except the potential buying patterns of pissed off shoppers, wondering why they can’t just eat dinner without the phone ringing.
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A new national survey of more affluent consumers from strategic marketing communications firm Context Marketing, “Beyond Organic -- How Evolving Consumer Concerns Influence Food Purchases,” has found that most respondents are highly concerned about the safety of the food they buy and would pay more for food they believe to be safer or healthier.
The research also found that assurances about what a food doesn’t contain, such as pesticides or antibiotics, matter a great deal to these consumers, along with ethical claims that reinforce quality and safety perceptions. …
While respondents confirmed that low price is a major influence on most food purchases, 60 percent said they would pay up to 10 percent more for food they think is healthier, safer or produced according to higher ethical standards, and 14 percent said they would pay a premium greater than 10 percent.
But right now, all that is available at retail is products that hint at enhanced microbial food safety and offer ... nothing.
Market microbial food safety so consumers can choose.
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Handwashing habits have not changed: the survey is in
Bradley Corporation, leading manufacture of commercial bathroom and locker room furnishings, released a national survey confirming H1N1 virus has not changed handwashing habits of Americans. Approximately 54 per cent of surveyed individuals said they “wash their hands no more or less frequently” since H1N1 flu virus has emerged.
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Jon Dommisse, Bradley Corporation’s director of marketing and product development said, “we were extremely surprised by that response especially since the medical community calls hand washing the best defense against the spread of cold and flu viruses.”
Handwashing is recommended by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Washing your hands “is a simple thing to do and it’s the best way to prevent infection and illness.”
The online survey was administered July 28-31 to 1,020 Americans regarding handwashing in public restrooms. Individuals were from across the country, equally male and female, and ranged from 18-65+ years old.
Surprise: Research finds Canadians consumed fewer deli-meats after listeria killed 20
This is why I stopped being interested in survey research, oh, about 15 years ago.
The University of Guelph today announced that a new survey had found a majority of Canadians have changed their buying and consumption behaviour following the recall associated with listeria in ready-to-eat meats. If people said so, it must be true.
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"The listeriosis outbreak was not only associated with the death of 20 people and the illness of many others, but it also contributed to economic loss in the food industry," said Prof. John Cranfield of the Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics.
Uh, yup.
"Before the food recall, consumers did not consider the potential risks of ready-to-eat meats to be significant," Cranfield said.
That’s because no one, even listeria guru Michael McCain, said anything about the risks.
So, with a lot of death, illness and massive media coverage, consumers became more aware.
The press release also says, in something that is tragically not interesting, that,
“Interestingly, although overall confidence in food safety in Canada remains high, consumers' trust in food-chain stakeholders to protect them from listeria is only moderate, the researchers found. Farmers were judged to have the greatest ability to ensure the safety of food, whereas restaurants, grocery stores and the food-service sector were deemed to have the least ability.”
What farmers have to do with listeria in deli-meats is beyond me; maybe a university puckering a little too tightly to a constituency?
The press release gushes that,
“The survey is the second to be produced as part of the Guelph Food Panel, the first large-scale panel of consumers dedicated to food research. Developed by Henson, Cranfield and post-doctoral researcher Oliver Masakure, it allows researchers to accurately track changes in Canadians' eating habits and measure consumer responses to issues such as food scares.”
20 dead isn’t a food scare. It’s a food screw-up.
Show me, don't tell me
The survey of 1,000 American adults, conducted in February and March of 2008, found that,
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"while more than three-quarters of Americans (82%) say they are confident in their ability to safely prepare food, many do not take steps to reduce the spread of bacteria in their kitchen. For instance, less than half (48%) report using separate cutting boards for raw meat or poultry and produce, and just 29% say they use a meat thermometer. … Most (92%) report washing their hands with soap and water when preparing food, and nearly as many (79%) say they store leftovers within two hours of serving. But just 15% report checking the wattage on their microwaves, and even fewer (7%) say they use a meat thermometer when using their microwave."Danielle Schor, Senior Vice President of Food Safety for the IFIC Foundation and registered dietitian, said,
“Consumers are a lot more confident about their ability to safely prepare food than they ought to be, based on what we learned. We still have a long way to go to educate the public about the basics such as avoiding cross contamination and cooking to proper temperature."
We've been doing a bunch of observational research over the past year and results will start trickling out in the next few months. Until then, as Brae Surgeoner wrote in the June 2007 issue of Food Protection Trends
"The study of consumer food-handling practices has relied almost exclusively on data obtained in self-report surveys. … The problem is that people often lie.
"In 1999, a team of Australian researchers, in their article, “A Video Study of Australian Domestic Food-Handling Practices,” impressed upon readers of the Journal of Food Protection the discrepancy that exists between what consumers say they do, and what they actually do. Comparing responses to a food-safety questionnaire administered prior to video surveillance of participants in their home kitchens, the researchers found significant deviations between stated and actual behavior. For example, there was a highly significant difference between self-reported and observed hand-washing practices. … Without observing actual behavior, food safety educators may be developing interventions that are successful in changing what individuals report they do, but may do little in changing what they actually do."
Oh, and anyone who says that avoiding cross-contamination is simple should be videotaped preparing a meal -- preferably with a few kids running around or some other distractions similar to actual scenarios -- and the video analyzed by trained coders looking for food safety, including cross-contamination, mistakes. My videos are at http://www.youtube.com/SafeFoodCafe, and I make mistakes -- or at least what may be defined as a mistake. That's because food safety -- including avoiding cross-contamination -- is not simple.
Food safety information: rapid, reliable, repeated and relevant
Dr. Carol Byrd-Bredbenner of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and colleagues reported in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association that many college students engaged in eating behaviors that could make them sick.
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Based on surveys of 4,343 students at 21 colleges and universities across the U.S., 53 percent reported eating raw homemade cookie dough (which contains uncooked eggs), 33 percent said they ate fried eggs with soft or runny yolks, 29 percent ate sushi, and 28 percent consumed raw sprouts. Eleven percent said they ate raw oysters, clams or mussels, and 7 percent said they ate pink hamburger.
I won't begin to get into all the faults with these kinds of measures or the near futility of drawing any meaningful conclusions from self-reported surveys.
Even so, the authors figured that,
"current food safety education efforts may not provide the information and/or motivation needed to compel individuals to change their consumption levels of risky foods. … Health professionals should focus creative efforts on developing safe food consumption behaviors in this group and thereby help safeguard the health of this population and enable them to fulfill the role of protecting the health of their future families."
Don't eat poop.
