Safe Food: Care Labeling for Perishable Foods

Unsafe food handling is a current problem as indicated by the estimated high frequency of foodborne illnesses. Previous studies have found a low level of consumer awareness of food safety principles and the frequent use of high‐risk practices in food preparation and storage. An interview schedule was designed to elicit information on household food handling practices and to test the po tential usefulness of both simple and more informative care directions on pack ages and in recipes. One hundred people who usually prepared the meals in each household were interviewed in one state. The sample responses indicated that cross‐contamination between raw and cooked foods, inadequate cooking, and unsafe holding temperatures were frequent practices. For those foods for which an incorrect practice was chosen in response to the question, there was significant improvement in the choice made after simple care directions had been added to the label or to the recipe. A more informative label resulted in significant change only for one product. Respondents mentioned food labels and adver tisements most frequently as good ways to distribute information.