Safe food refrigeration knowledge, attitudes, and practices of university students
Abstract
Purpose
Students living in university residence halls often have refrigerators for food storage, and are often living alone and handling food for the first time in their lives. Therefore, an investigation of their safe food storage practices is important to help prevent food-borne illness in this population. This research seeks to evaluate the food safety knowledge, attitudes and practices related to food storage and refrigeration among undergraduate students at a university campus.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional study was conducted by administering a questionnaire to undergraduate students (n = 93) living in two residence halls on a university campus.
Findings
Many respondents (43.3 percent) were unaware of the maximum temperature a refrigerator should be set at to prevent microbial growth, while 83.7 percent reported ‘never’ or ‘rarely’ checking the temperature of their refrigerator using a thermometer. Many respondents (43.1 percent) incorrectly ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ that the smell and appearance of food can be used as an indicator for food safety, and 64.1 percent self-reported often or always using this practice. Respondents that were born outside of Canada had more positive food storage attitudes, while those that identified as Caucasian had higher knowledge scores. A positive correlation was identified between knowledge and attitude scores (r = 0.217) but neither were significantly associated with practice scores.
Originality/value
The study revealed gaps in the knowledge, attitudes and practices of university students living in residence halls related to safe food storage. Hence, there is a need to increase awareness and education in this population on key food storage practices.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the management of Housing and Residence Life, Ryerson University for their assistance and support throughout volunteering recruitment period at the students’ residence lobby, and all undergraduate students who voluntarily participated in this survey.
Citation
Obande, D. and Young, I. (2020), "Safe food refrigeration knowledge, attitudes, and practices of university students", British Food Journal, Vol. 122 No. 4, pp. 1085-1098. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-05-2019-0327
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited