Food Consumer Behavior and Salmonella Exposure Self‐Perception in the Central Region of Mexico

Abstract

In Mexico, there is limited information regarding food consumer behaviors at home. The knowledge of food consumption and food handling practices can help to determine more realistically the exposure to different hazards, such as Salmonella spp. on the population. The main goal of this study was to characterize the food consumption habits of five food groups (fruits and vegetables, fresh meat, dairy products, processed meat products, and seafood), food handling practices, and Salmonella exposure self‐perception of the population of the central region of Mexico using an online survey. A total of 1,199 surveys were analyzed. The group of fruits and vegetables is the most consumed and one of the most related to the consumer self‐perception of suffering from salmonellosis. Mexican consumers regularly use refrigeration as the principal food storage method for the five food groups (42.2% to 90.8%), and generally, they store the products between 2 and 3 days (26.5% to 38.1%). A total of 86.4% of consumers reported that they always wash their hands prior to food preparation. A total of 16.9% and 13.0% use the same cutting board and knife, respectively, to cut more than one product without applying sanitization. Men, people between 20 and 24 years, and people between 60 and 64 years, had the highest risk food handling practices at home. Finally, age (P < 0.0001), education level (P = 0.0004), and suffering from gastrointestinal diseases (P = 0.0005) showed significant effects with self‐perception of having salmonellosis. Practical Application Data presented in this study could be used in future risk and exposure assessment research to evaluate the public health risk from the consumption of contaminated food. In addition, it could be used by government agencies to design education campaigns in food safety area.

Comparison of consumer knowledge about Campylobacter, Salmonella and Toxoplasma and their transmissibility via meat: results of a consumer study in Germany

“…Murray and Glass-Kaastra [34] showed that the majority of respondents are aware of the risks of foodborne illness associated with chickens, and the majority are aware that chickens that are not fully cooked can be a cause of foodborne illness. A study in Mexico showed that fresh meat is the most commonly considered sources of salmonellosis compared to other food categories, such as "fruits and vegetables" or "dairy products" [39]. In an Italian study, on the other hand, the awareness of Salmonella transmission was not particularly high.…”

Risk ranking of food categories associated with Salmonella enterica contamination in the central region of Mexico

“…Table 5 shows the per capita consumption (mean and 90% credible interval) of different food products for the population of the Central Region of Mexico estimated in a previous study of our group (Godinez‐Oviedo et al., 2019). The most consumed products included most of the fruit and vegetable categories (citric fruits, seed fruits, tropical fruits, berries, stem vegetables, roots and tuber, fruit vegetables, inflorescence vegetables) (39.98–56.55 kg/year), milk (48.02 kg/year), and yogurt (37.86 kg/year).…”

“…A total of 25 food products were grouped into five food categories described in a previous study (Godínez‐Oviedo et al., 2019). The food categories included (i) fresh meat (beef, chicken, pork, and turkey); (ii) processed meat products (bacon, ham, Mexican chorizo, and sausage); (iii) (fresh fruits and vegetables (citrus fruits [e.g., orange, lemon, tangerine], seed fruits [e.g., apple, pear, quince], tropical fruits [e.g., avocado, mango, papaya], berries [e.g., strawberry, blackberry, raspberry], tuber, bulb, and root vegetables [e.g., carrot, potato, onion], leafy greens [e.g., lettuce, spinach, parsley], inflorescence vegetables [e.g., broccoli, cauliflower], and fruit vegetables [e.g., tomato, chili, cucumber]), and dried fruits/nuts (e.g.…”

“…Pcc criterion was selected to correlate the consumption of food products with the higher number of illnesses (Anderson et al, 2011). The Pcc (kg/person/year) of each food product was obtained from Godínez-Oviedo et al (2019), in which the per capita consumption was estimated from the consumption frequency, the number of consumption servings and the weight per serving data obtained in an online survey (1199 respondents of the Central Region of Mexico).…”

Modeling Salmonella ( S . Typhimurium ATCC14028, ATCC 13311, S . Typhi ATCC 19430, and S. enterica ) and Listeria ( L. monocytogenes Scott A, ATCC 7644, and CDBB‐B‐1426) cocktails’ survival under the effects of pH, protein, and essential oil concentration

“…In Mexico, Salmonella infections are of great concern for the Ministry of Health, with 70,000 reported cases each year and 42.76% of isolated Salmonella strains coming from foods of animal origin, mainly from pork, beef, and chicken (Contreras‐Soto et al, 2019). Although the public health burden caused by Salmonella is evident, information on specific pathogen‐food source association is lacking (Godínez‐Oviedo, Parra, Vergara, González, & Iturriaga, 2019). In two of the few studies where a wide range of food products were sampled, RTE meat products are mentioned as some of the most contaminated after raw meat and raw meat products like economical chorizos (Charles‐Hernández, Medina‐Solís & Hernández‐Romano, 2007; Gutiérrez‐Cogco, Montiel‐Vásquez, Aguilera‐Pérez, & González‐Andrade, 2000).…”