Browsing by Subject "Food safety"
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Item A needs assessment for the development of a computer-based food safety curriculum to train employees in the self-service food bars of grocery stores(2011-05) Dodd, Caleb D.; Burris, Scott; Fraze, Steven; Doerfert, DavidThe incorporation of hot and cold self-service food bars into grocery stores in an effort to capture a portion of home meal replacement industry is presenting new challenges in the safety programs for retail food establishments. To ensure retail success and customer safety, employees need to be educated in proper food preparation, handling, temperature control, and storage practices. Traditional methods of training are not meeting the needs of the retail food industry. Computer-based curriculum is a promising avenue for developing effective training material for food safety. Although many food safety curriculums exist, none address the specific needs of hot and cold self-service food bars in the grocery industry. In an effort to design an effective training program a quasi-experimental study was performed using a needs assessment. Data was collected from three separate chains within the retail food industry from six geographical locations. The pre-post assessment study utilized an interventional training and included collecting questionnaires from 300 employees. Findings of the study described characteristics of employees within each chain individually and collectively as a whole. The findings also described characteristics of stores, as well as stores’ procedures and policies. In addition, food safety knowledge was assessed by comparing pre-training and post-training assessments for managerial employees and non-managerial employees. The most important finding for this study consisted of identifying specific items to be included in the development of computer-based food safety curriculum to be implemented for training employees in hot and cold self-service food bars of grocery stores.Item Boosting Lunch Is In The Bag(2011-12) Almansour, Fawaz; Briley, Margaret E.Lunch Is In The Bag (LIITB) was a multi-level behavioral intervention with the goal of increasing the amounts of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains that parents pack in their preschoolers' lunches. The purpose of this dissertation project was to: 1) to examine the temperatures of perishable food items packed in preschoolers' sack lunches; 2) to examine parents' psychosocial constructs that relate to packing fruits, vegetables, and whole grains at four periods during the booster study; 3) to assess the servings of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains with the related nutrient content at four periods during the booster study. The four assessment periods are before LIITB, after LIITB, before the one-week booster, and after the one-week booster. Results showed that more than 97 percent of perishable food items in the sack lunches were stored at unacceptable temperatures (40-140°F). Servings of vegetables (-0.15, p=0.05) and whole grains (-0.53, p<0.0001) in preschool lunches decreased significantly before the booster in the intervention group. The booster increased the servings of vegetables (0.10, p=0.09) and whole grains (0.16, p =0.01) compared to booster baseline. The one-week booster increased thiamin, dietary fiber, and vitamin C content of foods in preschoolers' lunches. During the booster study, parents experienced improvement in psychosocial variables after LIITB and before the booster. Knowledge decreased before the booster. Parents' psychosocial variables were linked to packing more vegetables and significantly more whole grains due to the intervention. Education for parents and the public must focus on methods of packing safe, healthy lunches in order to prevent foodborne illness and chronic disease. The results of this study provide data for continued examination of an area of parental behavior related to packing lunches for their children. The booster study demonstrated that a booster was important for maintenance of program outcomes, and to increase the servings of vegetables and whole grains that parents packed in their preschool children's lunches.Item Developing Best Practices for Small and Very Small Pork Processing Plants to Improve Food Safety(2013-05-10) Hendricks, Matthew BentonBest practices have previously been developed for beef slaughter and further processing operations with input from academic and industry leaders. Best practices for pork processors have not been developed, and those developed for the beef industry may not always be applicable to the operations of Small and Very Small establishments. Small and Very Small establishments warrant unique consideration in terms of financial and technological capabilities. While larger processors utilize multiple capital-intensive microbial interventions, smaller establishments often must rely on sanitary practices and more traditional interventions. In order to develop best practices for Small and Very Small pork slaughter and further processing establishments, a survey instrument seeking information on establishment and facility characteristics as well as current sanitary practices was distributed to Small and Very Small establishments in the Southwest region. Additionally, microbiological baselines were established for six Small and Very Small pork slaughter and/or further processing establishments to allow the efficacy of best practices to be assessed following implementation in each of the six plants. Survey responses revealed areas where best practice recommendation efforts may be focused, and microbiological baseline data provided insight to the condition of carcasses and environmental surfaces using current sanitary practices. Combined, the data reveal the opportunities for improvement in the food safety systems of Small and Very Small pork processing establishments.Item Development of a carcass sanitizing spray system for small and very small slaughterhouses(Texas A&M University, 2007-04-25) Rodriguez, Jose GabrielSmall and very small slaughterhouses generally spray lactic acid for carcass decontamination utilizing a hand held sprayer. Even though this tool represents a very small investment, it may present important disadvantages such as uneven delivery of the spray over the carcass surface. If the decontamination treatment is not applied properly, the untreated areas of the carcass will still have high bacterial loads present and could be a source for recontamination of the areas that have been treated. A sanitizer spraying system (sanitizing halo system) was designed and assembled. The sanitizing halo system was tested at the Rosenthal Meat Science and Technology Center, Texas A&M University. Thirteen carcasses were split in halves. Thirteen halves were sampled and used as control after knife trimming and water wash; then they were sprayed with 2% L-Lactic at 55????C with the sanitizing halo system. The other 13 halves were sprayed by the RMSTC employees utilizing a hand held sprayer. Counts of aerobic and mesophilic bacteria obtained from carcasses sprayed with the sanitizing halo system and the hand held sprayer were both significantly lower than the control counts. In addition, coliforms counts were below the detectable limit for the sanitizing halo system and the hand held sprayer. After testing, the sanitizing halo system was installed at two small commercial slaughter plants processing beef and pork carcasses. At each slaughter plant, 24 carcass halves were treated with 2% L-Lactic at 55????C using the sanitizing halo system, and the other 24 halves were used as control. Mesophilic bacteria populations were reduced in beef and pork carcasses by 2.9 and 1.9 log cycles, respectively, after the lactic acid treatment. Also E. coli counts were significantly lower in the three regions sampled after application of the 2% L-Lactic acid with the sanitizing halo system. From the data collected during this study, we recommend the sanitizing halo system as a tool to reduce the bacterial loads on the surface of beef and pork carcasses. The use of this system should help small and very small slaughterhouses to improve food safety performance while providing cost-efficiency, simplicity, and convenience.Item EXTENDING THE THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR: FACTORS PREDICTING INTENTIONS TO PERFORM HANDWASHING PROTOCOL IN CROSS-CULTURAL FOODSERVICE SETTINGS(2011-05) Burusnukul, Pattarapong; Harp, Shelley S.; Stout, Betty L.; Kolyesnikova, Nataliya P.; Callison, Coy; Binkley, MargaretAnnually billions of consumers worldwide experience foodborne illnesses attributed to sub-standard hygienic practices. A contributing issue often cited is inadequate and improper handwashing by foodservice workers. Handwashing compliance in the foodservice industry has been reported to be sub-optimal and in critical need of improvement. In order to achieve successful behavioral change, a range of personal, social, and environmental factors as well as barriers to performing food safety practices in retail foodservice establishments need to be addressed. Research shows relying on educational training alone is ineffective and likely to produce limited results. Therefore, a comprehensive intervention program that incorporates an educational component and addresses the ecological factors influential to the performance of handwashing behavior in the organizational infrastructure is needed to ensure optimal results. In-depth understanding of the relationships among factors influencing handwashing intention, handwashing behavior, and knowledge about handwashing performance would be useful to foodservice providers for the development and implementation of effective handwashing intervention programs. The purpose of this research was two-fold: (a) to develop a theoretical framework for the investigation of handwashing behavior in the foodservice context and (b) to validate the foodservice handwashing theoretical framework in a cross-cultural context. A research-based model incorporating the psychology-based Theory of Planned Behavior (TpB) was proposed to explain the relationships among ecological variables and to better understand the motivational factors underlying foodservice workers’ handwashing performance in two cultures, the United States (US) and Taiwan, Republic of China (ROC). Data were collected in the Fall of 2009 in the US and in the Fall of 2010 in Taiwan, ROC from a convenience sample comprised of undergraduate university students majoring in Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts programs who had foodservice work experience. For each cultural context, data were analyzed to assess the validity and reliability of the self-administered handwashing survey instrument and to evaluate the utility of the hypothesized TpB based model in examining handwashing behavior in foodservice settings. Further, data analysis was performed to examine the relationships among the multi-item variables including: (a) handwashing behavior, (b) intention, (c) attitude, (d) subjective norm, (e) perceived behavioral control, (f) subjective knowledge, (g) behavioral beliefs, (h) normative beliefs, and (i) control beliefs. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis indicated the handwashing assessment instrument (FS/HB-76) was successfully developed, having validity and reliability in measuring the constructs of the extended TpB to examine handwashing behavior in the foodservice context. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses showed acceptable model fit to the observed data from self-administered surveys suggesting the capability of utilizing the extended TpB in explaining and predicting foodservice workers’ handwashing behavior in both the US and Taiwan, ROC foodservice contexts. However, these findings should be accepted with caution in light of the revealed relationships among various influential factors and handwashing intention and behavior. For US foodservice workers (N = 265), SEM results revealed a non-significant relationship between handwashing intention and previous handwashing performance. Of the basic TpB motivational factors (i.e., attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control), only attitude influenced handwashing intention. Subjective knowledge, as an extension to the TpB, was found to have significant impact and direct influence on handwashing intention, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. For Taiwan, ROC foodservice workers (N = 297), no significant relationship between handwashing intention and previous handwashing performance was found. However, handwashing performance was directly influenced by perceived behavioral control. Of the basic TpB motivational factors, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control influenced handwashing intention. The proposed subjective knowledge was found to have direct influence on intention as well as indirect influence on intention through subjective norm and perceived behavioral control. While not initially hypothesized, control beliefs were found to have direct influence on subjective norm. For researchers, findings contribute to the body of knowledge pertaining to food safety in the epidemiological literature and provide a replicable theoretical framework for empirical research. For academicians and foodservice practitioners, this research offers practical information that can be (a) incorporated into the development of more effective food safety intervention programs and (b) used in managerial applications for improving handwashing compliance in the foodservice industry. Data for this research were acquired from convenience samples of undergraduate students with foodservice work experience enrolled at two universities in each cultural context. Therefore, caution needs to be taken when generalizing the findings to other foodservice workers. Future research should replicate the study with a sample drawn from the general population of foodservice workers in diverse foodservice formats (e.g., casual and fast-food restaurants; independent, chain, franchised restaurants; and institutional foodservices) to increase demographic diversity in the sample (e.g., educational background, age, ethnic identification, geographic location) and generalizability of research results. Further, pre-intervention and post-intervention assessments should be conducted to establish cause and effect of intervention on foodservice workers’ psychological characteristics regarding motivational factors toward handwashing behavior. In addition, consideration should be given to conducting direct observation in acquiring data on handwashing performance to avoid the effects of social desirability bias and temporal difference of measurement (i.e., between intention and behavioral performance).Item Interventions for ensuring food safety in mangoes during phytosanitary treatments(2009-05-15) Kakani, GrihalakshmiIncreased consumption combined with increasing risk to foodborne illnesses makes it necessary to identify potential sources of contamination in the food chain and apply intervention processes that prevent/minimize the risk of contamination. The current study investigated the effect of the decontamination treatments with chlorine and lactic acid on the survival of Salmonella on the rind and stem scar portions of inoculated mangoes. The presence of the pathogen in the treatment water, internalization and the effect of the treatments on the quality of the fruit were also determined. For scar (hydrothermal), a 3.0 log reduction was obtained for control and additional reductions of approximately 2.2 and 1.3 log cycles were obtained with lactic acid and chlorine respectively. Data indicates reduction in pathogen population in cooling for all the treatments except two (Control ? increase of 0.3 logs, LA-LA ? increase of 0.3 logs). A 0.5 log reduction was obtained for the control (initial - 4.4 log10 CFU/10 cm2) and additional reductions of approximately 1.7 and 1.3 log cycles were obtained for treatments with lactic acid and chlorine respectively during hydrothermal treatment on the rind. For cooling, lactic acid and chlorine gave an overall reduction of approximately 1.3 and 1.4 logs respectively compared to control. Although Salmonella was not detected in the core stem tissue by direct plating method for most of the samples, it was detected after the enrichment method. The pathogen was detected on the rind, stem scar and the stem tissue for most of the samples for as long as 12 days. Salmonella was detected in treatment water with and without sanitizers after dipping mangoes. Lactic acid was found to be more effective in reducing pathogen population compared to chlorine in all the treatment combinations; however, the sensory aspects (color and texture) of the fruit were compromised.Item The food safety knowledge level of certified food managers who attended two self-selecting training courses(2013-05) Payton, Larry; Brashears, Michael T.; Burris, Scott; Dooley, Kimberly; Lindner, JamesThe foodservice industry is dependent on millions of employees daily to ensure proper and safe food handling of food products consumed by the general public. The State of Texas requires food establishments’ management or person in charge be trained in food protection. For this inquiry, the researcher studied the knowledge level gained by food mangers from two food companies and two certification courses. There were 90 food service operations that participated in the study. The data was collected through the use of a food safety knowledge test instrument. The scope of the study was to explore the level of food safety knowledge of two self-selected certified food managers in Texas. Sixty-five percent (65.6%) of the certified food managers were certified by course A and 34.4% were certified by course B. The researcher explored two educational theories that are often utilized in the agricultural education discipline. Adult education and training programs in agriculture should use appropriate and effective instructional methods. Creswell and Martin (1993) inferred a linkage between adult education and instructional design as it related to agriculture. This study explored the phenomenon regarding certified food manager training courses and knowledge level through certification. In agricultural education, lives are affected through education and training. Trede and Wade (1993) suggested that agricultural education helps people improve their lives through an educational process using scientific knowledge. The participants’ knowledge test scores were as follows: course A (n=59) 72.9% and course B (n=31) 69.0%. The resulting t-test was determined to the knowledge test score of course A and course B, and proved not to be statistically significant at an alpha level .05. Thus, the researcher concluded instructional design and adult learning theory did not have an impact on the knowledge level of participants as a result of the two self-selected courses for certified food manager training in this study. Food safety knowledge of participants who spoke English or Korean as their native languages were analyzed closely as they represented the largest population of the participants. Korean as a native language represented the largest group at 45.6% of the population. English as a native language represented the second largest group at 43.3% of the population. Certified Food Manager Training is offered in these languages throughout Texas. Differences were found within the participants’ native or first languages. The certified food managers who identified as English and Korean native or first language resulted a statistically significant comparison when analyzed via independent t-test. The researcher recommends further research on affects of native language on certified food manager training. This research study discusses potential improvements that may be implemented in future research for certified food management training. The scope of this study utilized two self selected courses that were available to the participating certified food managers. For example, the Food Safety Knowledge Test instrument which was developed specifically for the scope of this research. Although this instrument was only used once it served as a suitable tool for this research project and could serve as a guide for the development of future research instruments. The researcher suggests that future researchers consider utilizing a tested and established research instrument. A study with a broader scope including courses supported by other National and State level accreditation organization as well as increasing the number of participant; may yield additional findings.