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Risky Food Handling Practices among Community‐Residing Older Adults
Author(s) -
Yap LeLee,
FRANCIS SARAH L,
SHELLEY MACK,
LILLEHOJ CATHERINE,
MONTGOMERY DORIS,
WINHAM DONNA M
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.30.1_supplement.674.7
Subject(s) - environmental health , descriptive statistics , food safety , psychological intervention , medicine , food preparation , hand washing , meal , meal preparation , gerontology , food science , nursing , hygiene , statistics , chemistry , mathematics , pathology
Older adults are at greater risk for foodborne illness due to age and weakened immune function. Despite higher susceptibility to foodborne illness, older adults have low knowledge of food safety risk. It is essential to identify unsafe food handling behaviors among older adults so that interventions can be developed to decrease the likelihood of foodborne illness. Targeted, needs‐driven education materials and programs are the best methods to increase risk awareness among older adults and to provide the necessary prevention steps. The study purpose was to assess food handling behaviors that are increasing community‐residing older adults’ risk for foodborne illness. A convenience sample of 720 older adults from 67 congregate meal sites in a Midwest state completed a 10‐item food safety knowledge questionnaire that asked about the frequency of performing food safety behaviors. Participants were primarily widowed (54.3%), white (95.9%), females (75.4%), with a mean age of 78.6 years, who had a high school education (46.6%), and reported being in “average” health (31.9%). Review of descriptive statistics identified safety practices; chi‐square tests evaluated the associations between frequency of food safety practices, age, and gender. The majority of participants reported regularly practicing these specific safe food handling practices: refrigerating cold food immediately (97.6%), washing cutting boards after contact with meats (93.6%), discarding suspicious leftovers (93.6%), keeping sponges and towels clean (92.3%), and washing hands before food prep (91.4%). Conversely, a number of safety behaviors were not observed including: (1) thaw meat in refrigerator (50.0%), (2) pick up refrigerated/ frozen food just before checking out (38.5%), (3) check “sell‐by” and “use by” dates on packages (35.8%), or (4) use separate cutting boards for meat (21.0%). Age category was associated with picking up refrigerated / frozen food just before checking out (χ 2 [3] = 8.45, p = .038) and refrigerating leftovers immediately (χ 2 [3] = 8.18, p = .043); participants aged 71–80 years reported a higher frequency of responding “no” than other age groups. Gender was associated with washing cutting boards after contact with meat (χ 2 [1] = 12.25, p < .001) and keeping towels and sponges clean (χ 2 [1] = 9.86, p = .002); a higher percentage of males reported “no” to these behaviors. Future food safety education for older adults should target these aforementioned food safety practices to reduce the risk of foodborne illness. Specific education should be targeted to older adults age 71–80 related to refrigeration safety and to older males regarding cleaning of food prep materials. Support or Funding Information Funded by USDA's SNAP, an equal opportunity provider and employer, in collaboration with the Iowa Department of Public Health