Department of Population Medicine, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 1P7.
J Food Prot. 2009 Dec;72(12):2575-86. doi: 10.4315/0362-028x-72.12.2575.
Understanding consumers' high-risk food consumption patterns and food handling in the home is critical in reducing foodborne illness. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of unsafe food practices of individuals in a Canadian-based population, specifically, high-risk food consumption and home food safety practices. During November 2005 to March 2006, a sample of 2,332 randomly selected residents of the Waterloo Region (Ontario, Canada) participated in a telephone survey of food consumption and food safety. Questions covered consumption of high-risk foods, hand washing practices, safe food handling knowledge, source of food safety education, meat thawing and cooking practices, cross-contamination after raw food preparation, and refrigeration temperatures. Certain high-risk food behaviors were common among respondents and were associated with demographic characteristics. In general, unsafe practices increased with increasing total annual household income level. Males were more likely to report engaging in risky practices than were females. Specific high-risk behaviors of public health concern were reported by elderly individuals (e.g., consuming undercooked eggs), children (e.g., consuming chicken nuggets), and rural residents (e.g., drinking unpasteurized milk). Respondents appeared to know proper food safety practices, but did not put them into practice. Thus, educational programs emphasizing specific practices to improve food safety should be directed to targeted audiences, and they should stress the importance of consumer behavior in the safety of foods prepared at home. Further investigation of consumer perceptions is needed to design such programs to effectively increase the implementation of safe food practices by consumers.
了解消费者在家中高风险食品消费模式和食品处理方式对于减少食源性疾病至关重要。本研究旨在确定加拿大人群中个体不安全食品操作的普遍程度，具体而言，是高风险食品消费和家庭食品安全操作。2005 年 11 月至 2006 年 3 月期间，对安大略省滑铁卢地区（加拿大）的 2332 名随机抽取的居民进行了电话调查，调查内容包括食品消费和食品安全。问题涵盖了高风险食品的消费、洗手习惯、安全食品处理知识、食品安全教育来源、肉类解冻和烹饪实践、生食品制备后的交叉污染以及冷藏温度。某些高风险食品行为在受访者中很常见，并且与人口统计学特征有关。总体而言，不安全行为随着家庭年收入水平的增加而增加。与女性相比，男性更有可能报告存在危险行为。老年人（例如，食用未煮熟的鸡蛋）、儿童（例如，食用鸡块）和农村居民（例如，饮用未经巴氏消毒的牛奶）报告了一些令人关注的特定高风险行为。受访者似乎了解适当的食品安全实践，但并未付诸实践。因此，应该针对特定目标受众开展强调特定实践以改善食品安全的教育计划，并强调消费者在家中准备食品的安全性的重要性。需要进一步调查消费者的认知，以设计此类计划，有效提高消费者实施安全食品操作的意愿。
