Relationship between Consumer Food Safety Knowledge and Reported Behavior among Students from Health Sciences in One Region of Spain

Abstract

A survey was conducted to investigate the relationship between knowledge about food safety and actual food handling practices among Spanish university students (mainly from the health sciences disciplines) who usually prepare meals at home. Based on level of education in food safety topics, students were divided in three groups: high, which included students from Food Science and Nutrition; medium, which included students from other health sciences; and low, which included students from non-health-related studies. More than two thirds of the 562 people selected had an accurate knowledge of the eight foodborne pathogens included in the survey, but only 5.2% were able to identify Staphylococcus aureus as a foodborne pathogen. Significant differences in responses were found depending on educational level concerning the food safety topic. For food handling, up to 60% of the responses reflected accurate knowledge of proper storage of prepared meals and washing of hands and materials to avoid cross-contamination. However, with the exception of questions related to storage temperature, there was considerable difference between knowledge and reported behavior. Although 98.6% of the participants recognized the importance of hand washing before and during food preparation, only one quarter (24.4%) affirmed that they washed their hands with soap and water. On questions concerning food practices, more accurate answers were given by the older students. Women answered questions regarding cross-contamination more accurately, whereas men were more accurate in response to questions concerning temperature and food preservation. In general, students with more knowledge of food hygiene had better reported practices, but even these students reported some high-risk behaviors. These results confirm the need to improve educational programs, ensuring that the acquired knowledge actually modifies consumer behavior.

Food safety knowledge and practices among college female students in north of Jordan

“…This difference could be due to the fact that Salmonella is the pathogen involved in most outbreaks of foodborne illness in Jordan in the past few years. Similar finding was discovered by Garayoa et al (2005) who found that proportion of Spanish university students correctly identified the food vehicle for transmission of Salmonella was greater than those who identified the food vehicle for transmission of S. aureus, Clostridium botulinum, L. monocytogenes and Trichinella. Low personal perception of food safety reported by female college students live in dorms in north of Jordan likely contributes, at the short term, to their decision to consume risky foods which may affect students' susceptibility to foodborne illness and contributes, at the long term, to foodborne illnesses in the home as this target group is future mothers and food preparers.…”

“…Most of the studies that examined food safety knowledge of young adults discovered, as this study did, that food safety knowledge of young adults is at an insufficient level Garayoa et al, 2005;Sanlier, 2009;Sharif & AlMalki, 2010;Unklesbay et al, 1998). Sanlier (2009) reported that food safety knowledge score of young consumers in Ankara, Turkey was of 5.81 out of 10 points.…”

“…Food safety knowledge and behaviors among young adults have been studied in different parts of globe. The results revealed that this group of consumers are engaging in food safety behaviors that put their health at risk for foodborne diseases (Byrd-Bredbenner et al, 2008;Garayoa, Córdoba, García-Jalón, Sanchez-Villegas, & Vitas, 2005;Morrone & Rathburn, 2003;Sanlier, 2009;Sharif & AlMalki, 2010;Unklesbay, Sneed, & Toma, 1998). A recent study showed that over 50% of the Saudi college students consumed raw eggs and raw white cheese and 34% believed that there is no risk of disease from eating cooked food kept at room temperature for one day if covered (Sharif & Al-Malki, 2010).…”

“…In Turkey, Sanlier (2009) found that more than half of young consumers (14e19 year old) did not know that checking the internal temperature of the food is the safest way to know if the meat was cooked well. Garayoa et al (2005) discovered that 13.5% of pregraduate students in Spain washed their hands with soap and water before and during food preparation, 38.6% used safe methods to defrost frozen food and only 2.1 and 10.1% knew the food vehicles of Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus, respectively.…”

Consumer Food Safety Knowledge, Practices and Differences in Behaviors in Thrace Region of Turkey

“…However, Morrone & Rathburn, (2003) and Unklesbay et al (1998) found that only a few studies have been conducted to explore the food safety knowledge, and behaviours among college students in developed country. Unusan (2007) and Garayoa et al (2005) found significant difference among education levels concerning attitude towards food safety and knowledge. According to Shepherd (1989) numerous variables influence consumer's knowledge and behaviours processes.…”