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Outlines research on the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food‐funded project Communication strategies for the Promotion of Dietary Change. With a view to general dietary recommendations and to Health of the Nation targets, the focus of this three‐year project is the promotion of dietary change through information provision. A multidisciplinary team of researchers at the Institute of Food Research, Reading, is conducting the research, drawing on a number of different theoretical perspectives and methodological procedures. Pays special emphasis to the issue of fat consumption, summarizes the practical role of the theory of planned behaviour, the elaboration‐likelihood model and unrealistic optimism research, and outlines the development of a novel food and drink diary. Advocates a multidisciplinary, integrative approach to information‐based health promotion efforts.

In the home help service, food provision is one common welfare service that involves different professionals at different levels within a social organisation. The purpose of this paper is to examine how different professionals involved in this sector view and describe their work and responsibilities.

A qualitative study was designed based on interviews with 17 professionals representing different positions in the organisation, and an inductive thematic analysis was carried out.

The various professionals’ views of food provision mainly focus on the meal box and other meals seem to receive much less attention. The professionals also illuminated their respective roles within the food provision organisation by means of boundaries and split responsibilities, and expressed a view of food provision as an issue for outsourcing. The restricted manner in which food provision was viewed and described illuminates a risk of food insecurity for dependent people in home help service situations.

The restriction of how food provision was viewed and described illuminates a risk of food insecurity for dependent people in home help service.

The aim of this study is to investigate older people's perceptions, across eight European countries (the UK, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Italy), towards functional foods.

The repertory grid method was used to elicit reasons underlying preferences of five yoghurts with different functional properties and two conventional ones.

Familiarity was the key driver in products' separation. For the Italian case, as well as the Spanish, Portuguese, Danish and Swedish the first principal axis could be interpreted as novel‐common axis, whilst it was not in the UK, Germany and Poland.

Behavioural intention to buy functional yoghurts was more strongly predicted and moderated by single item perceived need (PN) than single item affective and/or cognitive attitude (AA, CA), even though PN, AA and CA could be consistently assessed within the same latent measure (in all countries but Denmark). Nevertheless, beliefs/attitudes towards a novel category of products such as functional foods may be reasonably keeping moving.

In this study, preference instructions pertaining to beneficial and imagery attributes, revealed idiosyncratic properties associated with functional yoghurts across eight European samples of older people.

The purpose of this research is to show the evaluation of food hygiene knowledge and self‐reported behaviours of school children, assessment of children's attitudes towards food hygiene and evaluation of barriers to the adoption of appropriate food hygiene behaviours.

The food hygiene knowledge and self‐reported behaviours of pupils (4 and 14 years; Key Stages 1‐3 in the English system – or Scottish equivalent) were determined using age‐appropriate knowledge quizzes completed by 2,259 pupils across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Attitudes towards food hygiene and barriers to performing desirable hygiene‐related behaviours were established through semi‐structured interviews with 82 pupils who completed knowledge tasks in South East England.

Children generally had good knowledge of food hygiene. However, there were misconceptions about the nature of micro‐organisms and how they affect food. In addition, a lack of reminders and practical food activities, especially at Key Stage 2 (7‐11 years), coupled with poor hand‐washing facilities, meant that children did not always adopt desirable behaviours. Children gave suggestions for ways to help others to remember good practice.

The study identified areas of weakness in pupils' hygiene knowledge and understanding and has determined barriers to adoption of desirable behaviours at all times. It has also suggested ways in which food hygiene education could be made more engaging for pupils, and other methods to encourage good practice.

The purpose of this research is to show how a nation‐wide survey of teachers investigated the teaching of food hygiene in primary schools. The survey determined which information sources were known and used by those responsible for teaching food hygiene.

Postal questionnaires were distributed to 3,806 primary schools throughout the UK (response rate 23 per cent). The questionnaire was developed based on the results of in‐depth interviews with school teachers and included topics such as where teachers gained up‐to‐date food hygiene messages, methods used to teach food hygiene, and how key food hygiene messages are reinforced. Teachers cited most preferred resources for teaching food hygiene, influences on the choice of these resources, and limitations on use.

Overall, the results indicated that food hygiene is taught in a number of subject areas, with handwashing and personal hygiene being the principal topics. Teachers use a combination of methods to teach food hygiene and to reinforce food safety messages. The principal limitations of teaching this topic were identified as a lack of suitable space and curriculum time. Teachers across the UK also identified new resources that would support the teaching of food hygiene.

The study identified how primary school teachers deliver food hygiene messages through the curriculum, daily routines and whole school initiatives. Ways in which primary school teachers could be supported when delivering food hygiene education have been suggested.

In response to increasing public health concerns about processed meat consumption, many innovations in meat technology focus on health-oriented product reformulations. Processed meat is not a homogeneous food category. The purpose of this paper is to explore consumer perception of the “healthier” reformulation of different processed meat products using two approaches: salt and fat reduction; and enrichment with healthy ingredients.

Seven focus group interviews were carried out with 40 Irish regular meat consumers (30 female, ten male) who were solely or jointly responsible for food shopping. Two rounds of card sorting procedures were employed to reveal perceptions on reformulation of 20 different processed meat products. Thematic analysis was used for analysing transcripts.

Health and flavour concerns and product popularity were the main factors influencing participants’ perceptions. Some participants were unsure or had misconceptions about the healthiness of certain meat products. Participants suggested reducing salt and fat content in processed meat products they perceived as the least healthy ones (theme 1) and improving the healthiness of products which were favoured by children (theme 2) and those meat products which people consumed regularly as a source of protein (theme 3). Participants were not in favour of any reformulation of speciality-type products (theme 4).

Consumer insights identified in this study can inform future approaches to making processed meats healthier.