“Meat thermometer usage amongst European and North American consumers: A scoping review”

Abstract

Improper cooking of meat contributes to many foodborne illnesses worldwide. The use of meat thermometers during cooking is recommended by food safety authorities in North America, but not yet in Europe. This scoping review investigated meat thermometer usage trends, consumers' barriers and facilitators, and usage-enhancing interventions, with the aim of informing potential policy changes as necessary towards enhancing meat thermometers usage. The study revealed that Europe is far behind North America in meat thermometer research and consumer use. The study results highlighted the increased compliance among mid-aged and higher socioeconomic consumer groups. A considerable percentage of people do not use a meat thermometer, despite owning one and knowing its importance. Barriers to meat thermometer usage among consumers included: cooking habits, non-practicality, and the influence of society and media, whereas responsibility to dependents and enhancing meat quality were strong facilitators. Intervention studies showed that knowledge gain does not necessarily translate to behavior change, unless consumers' barriers and facilitators are addressed; hence behavioral theory-based interventions were most effective. The review concludes with recommendations for food safety authorities, starting with filling the research gap to understand consumers' attitudes and behaviors, followed by implementation and scaling-up of evidence-based interventions, associated with cost-effectiveness studies.

Knowledge, Practices, and Risk Perception Associated with Foodborne Illnesses among Females Living in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

“…A food safety knowledge and practice score of 1.3 ± 0.2 out of 5.0, corresponding to 26.0%, was observed in the "cooking practices" aspect (Table 2). Inappropriate cooking temperatures and duration coupled with lack of thermometer measurements can lead to foodborne illnesses [37]. The percentage of females who were deficient in this knowledge in our study (26.0%) was similar to that reported for women from Saudi Arabia (35.5%) [11].…”

Awareness and Attitudes of Student Dietitians in Lebanon, UK and USA towards Food Safety

“…Visual inspection is not recommended for the consumers in the US. The use of the cooking thermometer is suggested as the most accurate assessment for achieving adequate cooking [53]; while it is published that 24 to 69% of consumers are aware that using a food thermometer is the best way to tell when meat has been cooked thoroughly [54], the practice is not implemented widely in the community [54][55][56] cooking thermometers are said to be more commonly used by consumers in the USA than in Europe [57]. Even so, the majority of dietetics students in our study were aware of recommended practices and expressed positive attitudes towards the importance of proper cooking and the use of a thermometer.…”

Structural equation modelling of food safety knowledge, attitude and practices among consumers in Malaysia

“…The barriers to thermometer usage in this study echoes [34] who categorised the barriers into 'belief that a thermometer is not necessary' and 'difficulty of selecting and using a thermometer'. [35] identified cooking habits and the influence of society and media as barriers to meat thermometer usage. Other previous studies in developing countries found up to 94% (n = 1393) consumers in Mainland China [36] and 93% (n = 1172) Lebanese [37] did not use thermometer to check food is cooked.…”