Newswise, November 7, 2016 --- Most people learn how to cook
and safely handle food from their parents. Then they pass along their food
knowledge and behaviors – right or wrong – from generation to generation.
This cycle may prevent young people from learning all they can
about food safety, a new University of Florida Institute of Food and
Agricultural Sciences study shows.
But the UF/IFAS researcher leading the study says the findings
present teachable moments. Joy Rumble and her research colleagues suggest more
interactive and online instruction in food safety procedures, supplemented by
social media outreach.
The real issue, as Rumble found in her newly published study,
is that few Floridians bother to find out the safest ways to prevent food-borne
illnesses.
And it’s not that they don’t care, said Rumble, an assistant
professor in agricultural education and communication.
“They’ve just never had a reason to care. They don’t know they
are doing something wrong, or they’ve never knowingly gotten sick from
something they made.”
In the study, Rumble led a team of UF/IFAS researchers that
conducted an internet survey of 511 Floridians.
They wanted to know if there’s a correlation between food
safety behaviors, generations of Floridians and where Floridians learn about
food safety behaviors.
They divided the respondents into age groups: millennials or
younger (ages 20 to 39); those in Generation X (ages 40 to 51), young baby
boomers (ages 52 to 61), older baby boomers (ages 62 to 70) and the silent
generation (ages 71 and older).
One area researchers asked about was whether respondents
disinfect counters before they get food ready to eat or cook.
The study found that more than 70 percent of the millennials
through old baby boomers do this, while 55 percent of the silent generation do
this.
On the other hand, 79 percent of the silent generation
properly defrosted frozen food in the refrigerator or microwave, while 40
percent of millennials reported doing this.
What millennials don’t know about proper food preparation
stems partly from the convenience-driven society in which they’ve grown up.
That includes ready-to-eat meals or meals cooked outside the
home. Another factor for millennials and other age groups: home-economics
classes.
Home economics was a fixture in secondary schools through the
1960s, at least for girls, according a 2010 study published in the Journal of
the American Medical Association. These days, there are fewer and fewer such
classes.
But all generations have reasons not to know as much about
properly preparing food as educators might want.
“The silent generation grew up in a time where a lot less was
known about proper food safety, preparation and handling,” Rumble said.
The new UF/IFAS study is published in the journal Food
Control.
