Educational actions about good manufacturing practices of canned fruits and vegetables for health inspectors: a partnership between university and health surveillance

Abstract

SummaryEducational actions in the food sector can contribute to monitoring, deciding on the best interventions, and defending consumer health. We aimed to develop and implement educational actions for health inspectors about good manufacturing practices of canned fruits and vegetables based on the health risk. This quantitative and qualitative study was carried out in six stages: (1) document analysis, (2) preparation of a preliminary questionnaire, (3) focus group and validation of that questionnaire, (4) application of the preliminary questionnaire, (5) the educational action itself, and (6) application of the post‐educational actions' questionnaire. In Stage 4, 121 inspectors answered the preliminary questionnaire, and 140 were involved in the educational actions (Stage 5). The data obtained from the document analysis (Stage 1) and the preliminary questionnaire (Stage 4) informed the education actions, which were carried out in two stages: a video lesson and a remote, synchronous meeting, enabling the participation of inspectors from different regions of the state of São Paulo. The educational actions were based on active learning methods using interactive online tools, addressing case studies, and reflecting on professional practice and its problems. The quantitative and qualitative data from the preliminary questionnaire demonstrated that the critical control points of the canned fruits and vegetables manufacturing process and the production flow should be emphasised in the educational actions. The qualitative analysis of the active learning activities demonstrated that ‘acidification and heat treatment’ were the critical points identified by the participants, attesting to the education actions' relevance. The approach proposed in this study provides health inspectors with a model of active educational actions in food safety based on active learning methods that can be adapted for future in‐service educational actions at health surveillance centres worldwide.