Purpose: This project evaluated the “The Plant Tour GMP Game,” a reusable learning object designed to teach students Good Manufacturing Practices in the context of a virtual food processing facility, and its effect on participant’s knowledge of GMPs, attitudes toward food safety, and normative, behavioral, and control beliefs before and after playing the game.
Methods: Students from 42 food science clubs around the United States were contacted to participate in this study. The participants (n=44) were asked to take a pre-survey, play the game, and then take a post-survey. All questions asked in the pre-survey were also asked in the post-survey, and additional questions about the game design were added to the post-survey.
Results: Overall, “The Plant Tour GMP Game” is an effective teaching tool for undergraduate students. There were significant knowledge gains (P<0.05) for seven out of the ten knowledge questions. The number of participants who agreed or strongly agreed that they could identify GMPs in processing plants significantly increased (P<0.05) from 39% to 84%. The component of the game participants liked most was the videos (n=11).
Significance: Participants knew more about GMPs and felt more comfortable identifying GMPs after playing “The Plant Tour GMP Game.” This game could be a useful teaching tool to implement into undergraduate food safety courses by multiple instructors at different institutions.