Florida Master Gardeners' Food Safety Knowledgand Practices

摘要

The Florida Master Gardener Volunteer (MG) program is a statewide program that has been providing scientific training on the subject of horticulture to individuals interested in gardening and planting since 1979. Previous studies have mainly focused on demographic characteristics and motivation for participation in a MG program. Little is known about MG volunteers' food safety knowledge and practices. Without sufficient attention to food safety, there could be foodborne illness risk among the targeted servicing population. The present study aimed to evaluate Florida MG volunteers' food safety knowledge and practice. A 40-item instrument was developed and distributed to all active Florida MG volunteers (n = 4005) via Qualtrics. One week later, 1012 completed responses were recorded and included for data analysis. The results showed that the majority of the respondents were female (80%), 60 years old or older (80%), and held college or postgraduate degrees (73%). The respondents correctly identifiedthe five most common risk factors for foodborne illness, and 80% of them knew about the time/temperature controls necessary for food safety. Meanwhile, 87% of respondents correctly reported the safe minimum internal temperature for whole chicken or poultry. However, percentages knowing the safe minimum temperature decreased to 60%, 43%, and 42%, respectively, when asked about ground beef, leftovers and/or casseroles, and fresh whole cut beef. Moreover, the respondents were not knowledgeable about the specific vulnerabilities of different populations to foodborne illness. Regarding safe food handling behaviors, the majority of participants reported safe handwashing practices (68%), safe fresh produce washing (77%), safe cross-contamination prevention methods (86%), and safe thawing methods (78%). However, significantly fewer respondents reported safe leftover storage methods (51%) and adhered to safe food thermometer monitoring of the internal temperature of meat products during cooking (< 30%). In conclusion, the survey revealed certain gaps in food safety knowledge and practice that need to be addressed along with Florida MG volunteers' training in horticulture.