Karla M Acosta, Alberto A Beiza, Isabella Raschke, Zhihong Lin, Juan M Madera, Mary Dawson, Zenaida Aguirre-Muñoz, Sujata A Sirsat
{"title":"Synthesis and Effectiveness of a Novel Food Safety Toolkit for Low-Literacy Novice Food Handlers.","authors":"Karla M Acosta, Alberto A Beiza, Isabella Raschke, Zhihong Lin, Juan M Madera, Mary Dawson, Zenaida Aguirre-Muñoz, Sujata A Sirsat","doi":"10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100496","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The state of Texas announced a requirement for all foodservice employees to pursue an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) certified food handler training in September 2016. However, the effectiveness of ANSI-certified food safety training for low-literacy novice food handlers has not been investigated. Low-literacy novice food handlers are those who have some familiarity with the field but may not have the literacy level or may have a language barrier that is as an obstacle to completing the training and/or certification. This study aimed to develop a novel food safety training toolkit (NTK) as a supplementary resource to existing ANSI-certified training tools and evaluate its effectiveness in improving food handlers' knowledge retention and certification. To achieve this, a mixed-method study was conducted. For the first part of the research, one-on-one interviews were conducted with foodservice stakeholders (managers, sanitarians, owners) to identify the gaps and needs that exist in the current food safety training system. In the second part of the research, NTK was synthesized and designed with clear illustrations and drawings based on previous education and training literature. A between-subjects experiment was conducted to assess the effectiveness of NTK on food handlers' food safety knowledge. Results showed that the participants' overall food safety knowledge significantly increased due to NTK when compared to the control group. This study is distinctive because it directly responds to the needs of the foodservice industry, and the study output (NTK) can serve as the cornerstone to fill the gap in current food safety training for low-literacy or novice food handlers in the future.</p>","PeriodicalId":15903,"journal":{"name":"Journal of food protection","volume":" ","pages":"100496"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of food protection","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100496","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"BIOTECHNOLOGY & APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The state of Texas announced a requirement for all foodservice employees to pursue an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) certified food handler training in September 2016. However, the effectiveness of ANSI-certified food safety training for low-literacy novice food handlers has not been investigated. Low-literacy novice food handlers are those who have some familiarity with the field but may not have the literacy level or may have a language barrier that is as an obstacle to completing the training and/or certification. This study aimed to develop a novel food safety training toolkit (NTK) as a supplementary resource to existing ANSI-certified training tools and evaluate its effectiveness in improving food handlers' knowledge retention and certification. To achieve this, a mixed-method study was conducted. For the first part of the research, one-on-one interviews were conducted with foodservice stakeholders (managers, sanitarians, owners) to identify the gaps and needs that exist in the current food safety training system. In the second part of the research, NTK was synthesized and designed with clear illustrations and drawings based on previous education and training literature. A between-subjects experiment was conducted to assess the effectiveness of NTK on food handlers' food safety knowledge. Results showed that the participants' overall food safety knowledge significantly increased due to NTK when compared to the control group. This study is distinctive because it directly responds to the needs of the foodservice industry, and the study output (NTK) can serve as the cornerstone to fill the gap in current food safety training for low-literacy or novice food handlers in the future.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Food Protection® (JFP) is an international, monthly scientific journal in the English language published by the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP). JFP publishes research and review articles on all aspects of food protection and safety. Major emphases of JFP are placed on studies dealing with:
Tracking, detecting (including traditional, molecular, and real-time), inactivating, and controlling food-related hazards, including microorganisms (including antibiotic resistance), microbial (mycotoxins, seafood toxins) and non-microbial toxins (heavy metals, pesticides, veterinary drug residues, migrants from food packaging, and processing contaminants), allergens and pests (insects, rodents) in human food, pet food and animal feed throughout the food chain;
Microbiological food quality and traditional/novel methods to assay microbiological food quality;
Prevention of food-related hazards and food spoilage through food preservatives and thermal/non-thermal processes, including process validation;
Food fermentations and food-related probiotics;
Safe food handling practices during pre-harvest, harvest, post-harvest, distribution and consumption, including food safety education for retailers, foodservice, and consumers;
Risk assessments for food-related hazards;
Economic impact of food-related hazards, foodborne illness, food loss, food spoilage, and adulterated foods;
Food fraud, food authentication, food defense, and foodborne disease outbreak investigations.