Food Safety Practices For Seniors
In a separate study, researchers at Pennsylvania State University conducted focus groups at senior centers to determine the need and focus for food safety education among the senior population. The target of the focus groups was to determine seniors’ knowledge of an array of food safety practices (cook, cool, store, etc.), knowledge of the consequences of inappropriate practices, barriers to change, and information required to initiate behavior change.
The researchers conducted six focus groups, three in urban and three in rural Pennsylvania counties. All six focus groups were held at local senior centers, with questions focusing on how seniors cook, cool, and thaw meat, poultry and seafood, and items containing these products. Further questions focused on the consequences for not using safe practices, and motivations for change.
A total of 74 seniors participated in the focus groups, and inappropriate practices were extensively identified:
- Â Seniors tended to rely on a specific amount of time or visual cues to know when meat, poultry or seafood was thoroughly cooked
- Â Seniors tend to place large quantities of hot food into the refrigerator for cooling, without portioning it into smaller containers
- Â Seniors place thaw frozen food in water that is never changed, they thaw food on the counter for longer than 2 hours, or they thaw foods in the microwave and then refrigerate them (rather than promptly cooking the items)
Barriers to change were also noted to be significant:
- Â Seniors ‘would not be bothered’ to use a thermometer, or do not own a thermometer
- Â Seniors improperly thawing food could not be ‘bothered’ to thaw items correctly
- Â Other barriers to proper thawing were being faced with issues such as things happening at the last minute, a full refrigerator, or the cost of discarding food
 The one area where seniors were most likely to modify their behavior was in the area of cooling hot leftovers food properly, a change they indicated that they could easily make.
When asked to identify types of food safety information that they would find useful, seniors recommended educational programs, videotapes, television, newspapers, radio, church bulletins, and written educational materials.
Overall, the results of this study Indicate that food safety educational efforts among seniors should include the most current, research-based scientific facts associated with food safety, the link between inappropriate practices and threat to health, and preferred delivery methods. Such educational efforts will support safe food handling at home and, thus, the continued independence of seniors in their homes.
No Tags
