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Food safety knowledge, attitudes and self-reported practices among Ontario high school students

  • Quantitative Research
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Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To measure the food safety knowledge, attitudes and self-reported practices of high school students in Ontario.

METHODS: We administered a school-wide paper survey to the student body (n = 2,860) of four Ontario high schools. We developed the survey by selecting questions from existing, validated questionnaires, prioritizing questions that aligned with the Canadian Partnership for Consumer Food Safety Education’s educational messages and the food safety objectives from the 2013 Ontario High School Curriculum.

RESULTS: One in five students reported currently handling food in commercial or public-serving venues; of these, 45.1% had ever taken a course that taught them how to prepare food (e.g., food and nutrition classes, food handler certification). Food safety knowledge among respondents was low. For example, 17.3% knew that the best way to determine whether hamburgers were cooked enough to eat was to measure the temperature with a food thermometer. Despite low knowledge, most respondents (72.7%) reported being confident that they could cook safe, healthy meals for themselves and their families. Safe food handling practices were frequently self-reported. Most students (86.5%) agreed that being able to cook safe, healthy meals was an important life skill, although their interest in learning about safe food handling and concern about foodborne disease were less pronounced.

CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that food safety knowledge is low, yet confidence in preparing safe, healthy meals is high, among high school students. Because work and volunteer opportunities put students in contact with both the public and food, this group is important to target for increased education about safe food handling.

Résumé

OBJECTIFS : Mesurer les connaissances, les attitudes et les pratiques autodéclarées d’élèves du secondaire de l’Ontario en matière de salubrité des aliments.

MÉTHODE : Nous avons administré un sondage sur papier à tous les élèves (n = 2 860) de quatre écoles secondaires de l’Ontario. Nous avons élaboré le sondage en choisissant des questions de questionnaires validés existants, en privilégiant les questions conformes aux messages éducatifs du Partenariat canadien pour la salubrité des aliments et aux objectifs de salubrité des aliments des programmes d’études secondaires de l’Ontario en 2013.

RÉSULTATS : Un élève sur cinq a déclaré manipuler des aliments dans des établissements commerciaux ou de service à la clientèle; de ce nombre, 45,1% avaient déjà suivi un cours de préparation des aliments (classes sur l’alimentation et la nutrition, formation des préposés à la manipulation des aliments). Les connaissances en salubrité des aliments chez les répondants étaient faibles. Par exemple, seulement 17,3% savaient que le meilleur moyen de déterminer si des hamburgers sont assez cuits pour être mangés est d’en mesurer la température avec un thermomètre de cuisson. Malgré leur manque de connaissances, la plupart des répondants (72,7%) ont dit être sûrs de pouvoir cuire des repas sains et salubres pour eux-mêmes et leur famille. Ils ont souvent déclaré avoir des pratiques de manipulation hygiénique des aliments. La plupart des élèves (86,5%) convenaient que d’être capables de cuire des repas sains et salubres était une compétence essentielle, mais leur intérêt pour l’apprentissage de la manipulation hygiénique des aliments et leur préoccupation pour les intoxications alimentaires étaient moins prononcés.

CONCLUSION : Nos constatations montrent que les connaissances sur la salubrité des aliments sont faibles chez les élèves du secondaire, mais que ces élèves sont très sûrs de pouvoir préparer des repas sains et salubres. Étant donné que les occasions d’emploi et de bénévolat mettent les élèves en contact avec le public et les aliments, il est important de cibler ce groupe pour accroître leurs connaissances de la manipulation hygiénique des aliments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave. West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada

    Shannon E. Majowicz PhD, Kenneth J. Diplock MHS CIPHI(C), Scott T. Leatherdale PhD, Steven Rebellato PhD, David Hammond PhD & Joel A. Dubin PhD

  2. School of Health and Life Sciences and Community Services, Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Kitchener, ON, Canada

    Kenneth J. Diplock MHS CIPHI(C)

  3. Propel Centre for Population Health Impact, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    Chad T. Bredin BA

  4. Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada

    Andria Jones-Bitton DVM PhD

  5. Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    Joel A. Dubin PhD

Authors
  1. Shannon E. Majowicz PhD
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  2. Kenneth J. Diplock MHS CIPHI(C)
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  3. Scott T. Leatherdale PhD
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  4. Chad T. Bredin BA
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  5. Steven Rebellato PhD
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  6. David Hammond PhD
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  7. Andria Jones-Bitton DVM PhD
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  8. Joel A. Dubin PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shannon E. Majowicz PhD.

Additional information

Acknowledgements: The authors thank the students and staff of the participating schools for their support of this study. Andrew Papadopoulos (University of Guelph) contributed to early ideas for this work. The research was funded by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs’ Food Safety Research Program (FS2013-1843; grant awarded to S. Majowicz). The research built off an existing research platform (COMPASS) supported by a bridge grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (INMD) through the “Obesity — Interventions to Prevent or Treat” priority funding awards (OOP-110788; grant awarded to S. Leatherdale) and an operating grant from the CIHR Institute of Population and Public Health (IPPH) (MOP-114875; grant awarded to S. Leatherdale). Drs. Leatherdale and Hammond are Chairs in Applied Public Health, funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) in partnership with CIHR Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (INMHA) and IPPH.

Conflict of Interest: None to declare.

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Majowicz, S.E., Diplock, K.J., Leatherdale, S.T. et al. Food safety knowledge, attitudes and self-reported practices among Ontario high school students. Can J Public Health 106, e520–e526 (2015). https://doi.org/10.17269/CJPH.106.5213

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.17269/CJPH.106.5213

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