Effective food safety intervention or good PR

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Effective food safety intervention or good PR?
Food Safety Forum 2006 February 20, 2006 Brae
Surgeoner
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Why?

• To help fill gaps in food safety knowledge
  oftentimes simplistic solutions introduced,
  regardless of effectiveness
• Labels useful from food safety perspective only
  if consumers use them in decision making
• Labels increase production costs

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Background Labeling literature

• Label may or may not be effective
• Knowledge ? recommended behaviors
• Women vs. men
• Familiar vs. unfamiliar

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Graphic cigarette warning labels serve as an
effective population based smoking cessation
intervention. University of Waterloo, 2001
Cigarette labels dont affect smokers. University
of Montreal, 2005
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(No Transcript)
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Objective

• To investigate take-out food consumers
  perceptions of the safe food handling label and
  to draw implications for behavioral change

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Participants

• 6 full-service casual dining restaurants
• 5-unit chain
• 1 independent
• Convenience sample

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Methods

• In-restaurant surveys (April, 2005)
• Online surveys
• (April, 2005)
• Intercept-interviews (September, 2005)

n 148
n 30
n 11
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Key in-restaurant findings I
I intend to follow the guidelines on the label
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Key in-restaurant findings II
Likelihood of returning to the restaurant
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Unsolicited comments

• I know common sense is not as common as it once
  was but refrigeration and proper heating in a day
  or two would fit into the former category
• If I were to warm food up, to your recommended
  temperature I would need a food thermometer. How
  many people do that (take the temperature of
  their food)?

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Key online findings I
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Key online findings I

• The label made me feel more confident about the
  food. It made me THINK more about the correct
  procedures food directly into the fridge, not
  on the office floor
• Put it in the fridge as soon as we got home and
  used it the next day. Changed habits of using all
  leftovers

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Key online findings II
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Key online findings III
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Key intercept-interview findings I

• What suggestions can you offer to improve the
  label?
• Have the staff fill in the date time
• How likely are you to return to a restaurant like
  ____ where there are visible commitments to food
  safety?
• Makes me feel slightly better but will return
  for other reasons

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Conclusions

• Major challenges involved in designing sensitive
  comprehensive evaluation of label
• Intended to change consumer behavior
• Realistically
• serves as a reminder
• stimulates discussion
• increases consumer confidence
• line of defense

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Neglecting a responsibility to initiate
conversations about riskmay well be the most
serious failing of all in the domain of risk
communication
Doug Powell Mad Cows and Mothers Milk, 1997