INTRODUCTION: A major source of consumers’ exposure to Salmonella and Campylobacter is from raw poultry and shell eggs. These products are frequently consumed in the United States; thus, exposure to these products is great. Improvements in consumers’ food safety practices when cooking at home may help to reduce foodborne illness attributed to these pathogens.
PURPOSE: To characterize U.S. consumers’ storage, handling, preparation, and cooking of raw poultry and shell eggs and to identify specific areas for improvement.
METHODS: Conducted a nationally representative web-enabled panel survey of U.S. adult grocery shoppers (n = 1,504) to estimate the percentage of Americans who follow recommended food safety practices for raw poultry and shell eggs when preparing food at home.
RESULTS: The survey results identified areas of low adherence to recommended food safety practices for raw poultry: not rinsing raw poultry before cooking (31.3% followed recommended practice), proper refrigerator storage of raw poultry (17.5%); using a food thermometer to check the doneness of small cuts of chicken (16.3%); and proper thawing of raw poultry in cold water (11.0%). Areas of low adherence to recommended food safety practices for shell eggs included the following: washing hands after cracking eggs (48.1%), cooking fried eggs until the yolks and whites are firm (46.6%), and using a food thermometer to check the doneness of baked egg dishes (3.2%).
SIGNIFICANCE: Adherence to some recommended food safety practices is low among U.S. consumers. The survey findings, coupled with other research findings, will help to inform the development of science-based consumer education materials that can help reduce foodborne illness from Salmonella and Campylobacter. This research was funded in part through a grant from the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program (grant no. 2012-68003-19606) from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
