Purpose: This study assessed the food safety behaviors exhibited by celebrity chefs on a variety of cooking shows to see if they meet the recommendations made by government organizations.
Methods: Using a structured guide, celebrity chefs (n=24) were observed while preparing meat dishes on 100 episodes of television cooking shows. Behaviors were categorized and compared to standard recommendations. Numbers of positive and negative behaviors were calculated.
Results: Proper modeling of food safety behaviors was limited. Many incidences of errors were recorded. For example, although all chefs washed their hands at the beginning of cooking at least one dish, 88% did not wash (or were not shown washing) their hands after handling uncooked meat. This was compounded with many chefs who added food to dishes with their hands (79%) or ate while cooking (50%). Other poor behaviors included not using a thermometer (75%), using the same cutting board to prepare ready-to-eat items and uncooked meat (25%), touching hair (21%) and licking fingers (21%).
Significance: This study suggests that there is a need for improvement in demonstrated and communicated food safety behaviors among professional chefs. The behaviors modeled by the chefs could lead to incidences of foodborne illness, especially among those who mimic their behaviors at home. Public health professionals need to design techniques to mitigate the potential negative impact of the poorly modeled behaviors.