Media Analysis

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Food safety hot topics

• Dr. Ben Chapman
• Dept of 4-H Youth Dev and FCS
• North Carolina State University
• benjamin_chapman_at_ncsu.edu
• www.chapmanfoodsafety.wordpress.com

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Why did my grandmother overcook pork?
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Foodborne illness in the US
-in-

• 48 million cases of foodborne illness
• 127,839 hospitalizations
• 3,037 deaths

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WHO factors contributing to foodborne illness

• Improper cooking procedures
• Temperature abuse during storage
• Lack of hygiene and sanitation by food handlers
• Cross-contamination between raw and ready-to-eat
  foods
• Foods from unsafe sources
• All human factors, behavior based
• WHO, 2002

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Impacts
Travis Cudney Blind since age 2 Complications
from a pathogenic E. coli infection
Mason Jones Died at age 5 E. coli O157 Acquired
through school lunch program 157 illnesses, 31
hospitalizations
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Why is this important for you?

• High risk population
• Somewhat complex food production system
• High potential on public health if something goes
  wrong

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Food safety risks in schools

• Process and handling
• School HACCP program
• Personnel
• School HACCP program
• Suppliers
• Procurement
• Other outside stuff
• Sometimes a bit of a question

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What makes us ill?

• 1 Chicken
• 2 Meats
• 3 Ground meats
• 4 Fin fish
• 5 Shellfish

• 1 Produce
• 2 Poultry
• 3 Beef
• 4 Eggs
• 5 Seafood

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Listeria outbreak (cantaloupe)

• 25 deaths
• 123 illnesses
• Linked to packing facility
• Sanitation
• Facility design
• Post-harvest handling

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E. coli O104 outbreak in Europe May 1 to July
21, 2011

• 4,125 cases
• 50 fatalities

As reported by the World Health Organization on
July 21, 2011 Outbreak officially over July 26,
2011
UNCLASSIFIED
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E. coli O157 outbreak/strawberries (OR)

• 1 dead 14 sick
• Deer droppings caused outbreak
• Six samples from Jaquith Strawberry Farm tested
  positive for the E. coli O157H7 strain

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Heres a scenario

• 150 students ill with gastro symptoms
• School closed
• Source is
• What do you say?

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Risk communication
Scientific Assessment of Risk
Public Perception of Risk
Information Vacuum

• Need to be able to address
• What you are doing
• Why you have risk reduction practices
• Update often
• In absence, it gets filled by whomever

Powell, 1997
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Potential social media tools

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Blogs
• YouTube
• Flickr
• Wikipedia

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Wright County Egg/Salmonella 2010

• Big break during investigation health
  department follows up on angry consumers
  complaining of illnesses on Yelp

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Wikipedia 100pm September 19, 2006
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Crisis communication Message development

• Be clear
• Relate the message to the audiences perspectives
• State what has happened and what is being done

• Clearly state the existence of uncertainty
• Ensure completeness and focus on the issue
• Place the risk in the appropriate context
• Be honest about the limits of scientific
  knowledge

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Food safety culture

• It is a set of shared attitudes, values and
  beliefs around food safety
• Production/sources
• Handling/storage
• Preparation
• You can have a good food safety culture or a bad
  one

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Food safety culture

• Maintaining a food safety culture means
• Everyone know the risks associated with the job
  they do
• Know why managing the risks is important
• Can effectively manage those risks
• Demonstrable
• Are ready to deal with problems
• Are looking for future risks

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Food safety culture players

• Principal
• Faculty
• Janitorial staff
• Administrative support staff
• Parent volunteers

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Know the risks

• What foods do you serve have been historically
  linked to foodborne illness outbreaks?
• Know what factors led to the illnesses
• Production? Temperature control? Hygiene?
• Tomato and pepper containing dishes in 2008 S.
  Saintpaul outbreak
• Barton Behravesh et. al 2011, NEJM

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• Surprising messages
• Shannon, 1948
• Generate dialogue
• Ajzen, 1991 Bohm et al., 1993 Dignum et al.,
  2001 Schein, 1993
• Put food safety into context
• Leventhal et al., 1965 Lordly, 2007
• Tell stories
• www.foodsafetyinfosheets.com

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Results Mean events per food handler
Event Pre (13.4 hrs) Post (13.5 hrs) Change percentage
Handwashing attempts 21.1 22.5 1.42 6.7
Correct handwashing events 2.4 4.0 1.64 68.9
Indirect cross-contamination 15.7 13.1 -2.57 -19.6
Direct cross-contamination 1.9 1.0 -0.85 -81.7
Significance level (p lt.05, 95 CI)
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Temperature

• Use temperature loggers to track temperature of
  leafy greens over time
• Placed at each step of leafy green pathway
• Receipt of product, storage, preparation, holding
• Is product exposed to abusive temperatures? If
  so, at what point and for how long?

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Food Handling and Sanitation Survey

• Asks about handling practices and opinions about
  risks involved in handling leafy greens
• Combined with temperature data
• show attitudes about leafy green handling and
  areas where improvements could be made to improve
  safety
• All to build better training/mitigation steps

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Where NC CE comes in

• In the past involved with training managers on
  HACCP implementation
• SMI team has that under control now
• Need help with training food handlers (cafeteria
  staff)
• Required to have a 4-hour training every 3 years

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Food safety risks in schools

• Process and handling
• School HACCP program
• Personnel
• School HACCP program
• Suppliers
• Procurement
• Other outside stuff
• Sometimes a bit of a question

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• Dr. Ben Chapman
• benjamin_chapman_at_ncsu.edu
• Follow me on twitter _at_benjaminchapman
• 919 809 3205
• www.foodsafetyinfosheets.com
• www.chapmanfoodsafety.wordpress.com
• www.barfblog.com