Purpose: The objective of this research was to observe how food safety practices of high school students changed following delivery of a provincial food handler training program, in Ontario, Canada.
Methods: We conducted an in-depth survey and observed a recipe preparation in eight Grade 10 and 12 food and nutrition classes in four Ontario high schools (n=119 students), assessing food safety knowledge, attitudes, and self-reported and observed food handling practices. The survey and observation were conducted at baseline (February, 2015; T1), and repeated circa 2 weeks (T2) and 12 weeks postintervention (T3). The intervention was a truncated version of Ontario’s provincial food handler training program, modified to omit commercial food premise specific content.
Results: Food handling practices were poor at baseline, with students averaging 50% correct behaviors (16 of 32). At T2, behaviors improved significantly (by 4.4 points out of 32, P<0.0001), while behavior scores did not change significantly, between T2 and T3. At baseline only 5.5% (6 out of 108) of students used a probe thermometer to check doneness of their chicken. Student characteristics were not significant predictors of total food handling behaviors, while working or volunteering in a food service premise was found to be a significant predictor (P=0.025) of the use of a food thermometer.
Significance: Students’ observed safe food handling was significantly better following delivery of a provincial food handler training program, suggesting that delivery of such material in food and nutrition classes may be an important strategy to ensuring food safety skills as students transition to adulthood.