Copyright 2002. Roy E. Costa ©. 2694 Magnolia Rd. Deland Florida 32720. Reprints by permission of author only. (386) 734- 5187

Author: Roy E. Costa, R.S., M.S., Public Health Sanitarian Consultant

Source: Florida Journal of Environmental Health

Methodology: An extensive review was conducted of the scientific literature on the subject of consumer food safety.

Summary: This report identifies and discusses key consumer food safety concepts, evaluates consumer attitudes, behavior, and knowledge while assessing the overall effectiveness of interventions for E. coli O157:H7 at the consumer level. It was concluded that a) consumers lack adequate capacity to protect themselves from pathogens such as E. coli and as a group are prone to mishandling food and b) mishandling of food by consumers is closely associated with the following: misconceptions about, and overconfidence in the safety of the food supply; misinformation and ignorance about food safety measures; changing societal and cultural influences, which are affecting consumer attitudes, preferences for foods and diminishing food safety know how; failure to understand and accept the need to use thermometers when cooking.

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