1. Mario Teisl, Sara B. Fein, Alan S. Levy, Amy Lando
Educating home food preparers: Where has the message gotten through? An analysis of trends in at-home food handling and consumption practices in the United States
Mario Teisl, Sara B. Fein, Alan S. Levy, Amy Lando

2. Methods
Combined the 1988, 1993, 1998, 2001 and 2006 U.S. Food Safety Surveys
all data are weighted to adjust for probability of selection, race, education and gender
Various statistical methods are used (e.g., ANOVA, multivariate regression)
Three major variable groups
Knowledge/awareness
Risk perceptions
Behaviors

3. Results – Knowledge

4. 93 98 01 06
Ever heard of…
Camplybacter?
5 A
8 B
13 C
Listeria?
9 A
15 B
31 C
E. coli?
87 A
88 A
85 B
Salmonella?
80 A
94 B
92 C
89 D
Can a food be made safe if it has salmonella?
can’t be made safe
38A
24B
23C
40 D

5. 01 06
How much juice is pasteurized?
64 A
65 B
Heard/read any health problems related to unpasteurized juice?
27 A
17 B
What did you hear?
may contain germs
16 A
35 B
risk groups
6 A
7 A
boil the juice
1 A

6. 01 06
Heard anything about mercury as a problem in seafood?
68 A
79 B
Heard of any group advised to be careful of eating seafood because of mercury?
pregnant women
35 A
58 B
nursing mothers
2 A
young children
28 A
other response
36 A
22 B

7. Results – Risk perceptions

8. 93 98 01 06
How common is it to get food poisoning from home?
very/somewhat
50 A
59 B
48 C
How common is it to get food poisoning from restaurants?
68A
72A
71A
70 A

9. 93 98 01 06
Do you think food contamination by germs is a…
serious problem
38 A
57 B
53 C
31 D
somewhat a problem 53 40 41 58
not a problem at all 8 3 5 11

10. 98 01 06
Is it somewhat/very likely that raw ____has germs that could make you sick?
Fruit
12 A
14 B
16 C
Vegetables
11 A
13 B
14 C
Eggs
49 A
54 B
Shellfish
68B
71A
Chicken
75A
77A
80B
Beef
60A

11. 98 01 06
How likely are you to get sick if…
vegetables you eat raw touch raw meat or chicken
Somewhat/very likely
44 A
53B
55 C
you eat meat or chicken not fully cooked
69 A
67 B
you forget to wash your hands before cooking
Somewhat/very likely
26 A
27 A
33 B

12. Results – Behaviors

13. How do you serve hamburgers? Rare Medium Well 88 93 98 01 06
How do you serve hamburgers?
Rare
4 A
3 A
3 B
2 B
Medium 37 34 23 24
Well 59 63 74 73
Does "medium/medium well/medium rare” mean they are..
still pink in the middle?
66 A
65 A
63 A
63A

14. 01 06
After cooking, what do you use to carry the food from the grill? Do you use . . .
the same plate/pan you used to carry it to the grill
7 A
6 B
a different plate or pan 76 80
serve directly from grill 17 14
Do you…
use the plate as is
19 A
36 B
first wipe or rinse it 27 24
wash it with soap 54 40

15. 98 01 06
Which of the following raw foods did you eat?
Clams
4 A
6 B
Oysters
8 A
12 B
11 B
Steak tartare
5 B
Fish
10 A
16 B
18 C
Sprouts
26 A
27 A
Did you eat uncooked hot dogs?
15 A
13 B

16. 98 01 06
Have you eaten soft/runny eggs or soft meringue?
44 A
42 B
Did you eat any foods containing raw eggs?
Batter
28 A
26 B
Frosting
10 A
8 B
Ceaser salad
8 A
9 A
Mousse
2 A
4 B
3 C
Eggnog
5 A
6 A
Ice cream
7 A
5 B
Milk shakes
4 A
3 A

17. 98 01 06
Before preparing food, how often do you wash your hands with soap?
All/most of the time
93 A
92 A
94 B
Do you wash/rinse tomatoes? 
98 A
97 B
Do you wash/rinse cantaloupe? 
54 A
57 B
Do you wash/rinse strawberries? 
97 A

18. 88 93 98 01 06
After you have cracked open raw eggs, do you …
wash hands with soap
22 A
34 B
37 B
40 C
After handling raw meat or chicken, do you …
71 A
66 B
78 C
82 D
81D
After handling raw fish, do you …
wash hands with soap 
77 B
81C
78 D

19. 88 93 98 01 06
After cutting raw meat/chicken, what do you do with the surface?
use as is
2 A
1 B
rinse/wipe 29 30 17 15 12
wash soap/bleach 66 78 81 83
use different board 3 2 4
After cutting raw fish/shellfish, what do you do with the surface?
1 A
0 B
0 C 10 7 8 80 86 91 90
use a different board 1

20. 88 93 98 01 06
If you cook a pot of meat/chicken stew and want to save it for the next day, when do you put it in the refrigerator?
immediately
20 A
23 B
29 C
27 C
24 D
How long to cool at room temperature?
less than 2 hours
88 A
83 B
87 C
85 C
If the stew contains fish/shellfish, when do you put it in refrigerator?
Immediately
35 A
46 B
42 B
43 B
How long to cool at room temperature?
less than 2 hours
91 A
86 B
87 B

21. Conclusions Knowledge about lesser known pathogens has improved
Awareness of health issues related to unpasteurized juice has dropped, but a related knowledge of germs increased
Knowledge and awareness of mercury-related issues have improved

22. Conclusions Risk perceptions
some improvements in non-meat related issues
awareness of the dangers of cross-contamination has gone up.   

23. Conclusions
Some major improvements in cooking, cleaning and food storage behaviors from  Little change before then, and only slight improvement since.
Eating risky foods has not budged except
for increases in eating some raw seafood
for a decrease in eating undercooked hamburgers