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Abstract: Little is known about the home food safety practices of Mexican-Americans living in the U.S. The current study examined the knowledge, perception of food safety risk and factors associated with home food safety practices among the Mexican-Americans who cook regularly for their families. Ten focus group interviews in New York and Texas identified a number of issues. Most participants did not defrost properly (i.e., placed frozen meat in the sink or countertop) and did not handle leftovers safely (i.e., cooled down more than 2 h at room temperature). Although participants reported good hygienic practices in the use of utensils when cooking, there seemed to be limited awareness of the dangers of cross-contamination when handling raw meats and produce; unsafe thawing of raw meats by leaving the raw meat in the sink or counter, and handling of cooked meats. Many incorrectly believed that the appearance of cooked meats was an indicator of safety, and that a food thermometer was unnecessary. These focus group findings informed a probability–based web panel survey (N = 468) of Mexican-Americans who cook for their families in the United States. The survey study reports two major findings: (1) Mexican-Americans' perception and awareness about food safety risk were closely related to their reported food preparation practices (except for eating raw eggs) and (2) Mexican-Americans born in the U.S. and those of Mexican origin living in the U.S. differed in their level of risk awareness and in their compliance with some associated food safety practices. Practical implications are discussed for designing targeted communication campaigns to increase compliance with safe home food preparation practices. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: While most home cooks know about safe home food handling procedures, compliance is generally low and has not been much improved by campaigns. Foodborne disease is a common cause of illness, hospitalization and even death, and many of these illnesses are caused by unsafe home food practices. Using the theory of planned behavior as a model, survey data were analyzed. Perceived behavioral control was the strongest predictor of behavioral intentions for both hand washing and food thermometer use. Subjective norm was the next strongest predictor for thermometer use, while attitude towards the behavior was the next strongest predictor for hand washing. This is consistent with earlier focus group results for thermometer use and suggests some possible strategies for designing future home food safety messages. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An independent collaborative approach was developed for stimulating research on high-priority food safety issues. The Fresh Express Produce Safety Research Initiative was launched in 2007 with $2 million in unrestricted funds from industry and independent direction and oversight from a scientific advisory panel consisting of nationally recognized food safety experts from academia and government agencies. The program had two main objectives: (i) to fund rigorous, innovative, and multidisciplinary research addressing the safety of lettuce, spinach, and other leafy greens and (ii) to share research findings as widely and quickly as possible to support the development of advanced safeguards within the fresh-cut produce industry. Sixty-five proposals were submitted in response to a publicly announced request for proposals and were competitively evaluated. Nine research projects were funded to examine underlying factors involved in Escherichia coli O157:H7 contamination of lettuce, spinach, and other leafy greens and potential strategies for preventing the spread of foodborne pathogens. Results of the studies, published in the Journal of Food Protection, help to identify promising directions for future research into potential sources and entry points of contamination and specific factors associated with harvesting, processing, transporting, and storing produce that allow contaminants to persist and proliferate. The program provides a model for leveraging the strengths of industry, academia, and government to address high-priority issues quickly and directly through applied research. This model can be productively extended to other pathogens and other leafy and nonleafy produce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]