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Objective-To assess the food storage knowledge and practice of elderly people living at home. Methods-Three phase survey data collection: face to face interviews; dietary diaries with a food frequency questionnaire; and follow up interviews. Setting-Urban Nottingham. Participants-809 elderly people (aged 65+) randomly selected from general practitioner lists. Main outcome measures-Respondent's refrigerator temperature; knowledge of freezer star rating; understanding of "use by" and "sell by" dates; reported ability to read food product safety labels. Results-From a weighted total of 645 refrigerators measured, 451 (70%) were too warm for the safe storage of food (> 6°Celsius). Only 41% of respondents (n = 279) knew the star rating of their freezer. Within a smaller sub-sample knowledge of the "use by" and "sell by" dates was good, but 45% of these respondents reported diYculty reading food labels. The storage of foods at inappropriate temperatures was not independent of socioeconomic or demographic status, and tended to be more likely among the poorer and those not living alone. Conclusions-Food storage practices among the majority of elderly people interviewed in this study do not meet recommended safety standards to minimise the risk of food poisoning. (J Epidemiol Community Health 1998;52:745-748)

A number of psychological and sociocultural factors have been suggested to influence athletes' willingness to play despite being injured. Investigation of this phenomenon is undertaken optimally at the time when athletes are injured; however, many studies have relied upon retrospective recall of feelings in individuals following recovery. This study aimed, through semi-structured existential-phenomenological interviews, to explore decision-making and attitudes surrounding playing with injury in professional footballers that were currently injured but continuing to play in matches in the English football leagues. Using deductive qualitative content analysis, cultural, situational and personal moderators that have been theorised to influence playing with injury in professional football were tested. The sample comprised nine professional footballers from three different playing leagues that were identified as playing whilst injured by team physiotherapists. There was a high level of agreement in the findings of this study with previous research. Personal and cultural moderators were stable across participants, and included conforming to the athlete role and operating in a culture where pain has been normalised. Situational factors, however, were unstable and were influenced by playing league, with constraints in squad size being an important influence for lower league players. These professional footballers sought windows of opportunity for treatment and recovery both within the season and at the end of the season. It appeared that a decline in performance, rather than the presence of pain, is used as a critical marker for injury. More research is needed to explore differences in presenteeism practices at different playing levels using larger number of participants.