Consumer Food Handling in the Home: A Review of Food Safety Studies
Open accessAbstract
Epidemiological data from Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand indicate that a substantial proportion of foodborne disease is attributable to improper food preparation practices in consumers' homes. International concern about consumer food safety has prompted considerable research to evaluate domestic food-handling practices. The majority of consumer food safety studies in the last decade have been conducted in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland (48%) and in the United States (42%). Surveys (questionnaires and interviews), the most frequent means of data collection, were used in 75% of the reviewed studies. Focus groups and observational studies have also been used. One consumer food safety study examined the relationship between pathogenic microbial contamination from raw chicken and observed food-handling behaviors, and the results of this study indicated extensive Campylobacter cross-contamination during food preparation sessions. Limited information about consumers' attitudes and intentions with regard to safe food-handling behaviors has been obtained, although a substantial amount of information about consumer knowledge and self-reported practices is available. Observation studies suggest that substantial numbers of consumers frequently implement unsafe food-handling practices. Knowledge, attitudes, intentions, and self-reported practices did not correspond to observed behaviors, suggesting that observational studies provide a more realistic indication of the food hygiene actions actually used in domestic food preparation. An improvement in consumer food-handling behavior is likely to reduce the risk and incidence of foodborne disease. The need for the development and implementation of food safety education strategies to improve specific food safety behaviors is reviewed in this paper.
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60-80% of food poisoning cases originate from household food handling practices.
“Given that 60–80% of food poisoning cases originate from household food handling practices [26,27,28,29], consumers play a pivotal role in ensuring food safety.”
From Food Safety Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) of Urban Consumers in Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LLMICs): A Scoping Review (2026) · cites this paper as [27]
Reliance on self-reported practices makes findings susceptible to social desirability and recall bias, potentially resulting in an overly optimistic assessment of food safety knowledge and behaviours compared with alternative approaches.
“reliance on self-reported practices makes findings susceptible to social desirability and recall bias [76,77], potentially resulting in an overly optimistic assessment of food safety knowledge, and behaviours compared with alternative approaches [27].”
From Food Safety Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) of Urban Consumers in Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LLMICs): A Scoping Review (2026) · cites this paper as [27]
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- Authors
- Redmond, E. C., & Griffith, C. J.
- Affiliations
- Cardiff Metropolitan University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Redmond, Elizabeth C.
- Venue
- Journal of Food Protection
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2003-01
- Volume
- 66
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 130-161
- ISSN
- 0362-028X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W121813486
- Cited by
- 782
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 22 · 2025: 33 · 2024: 30 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 40 · 2021: 39 · 2020: 40 · 2019: 39 · 2018: 33 · 2017: 35 · 2016: 40 · 2015: 40 · 2014: 39 · 2013: 52 · 2012: 44
- FWCI
- 3.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Food Protection (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Cardiff Metropolitan Research Repository (Cardiff Metropolitan University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Food Safety and Hygiene
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Salmonella and Campylobacter epidemiology
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Biotechnology › Listeria monocytogenes in Food Safety
- Keywords
- home food handling, food safety, food poisoning, food preparation practices, raw chicken meat, food hygiene, food safety education
- MeSH terms
- Consumer Product Safety, Cooking, Cross Infection, Food Handling, Foodborne Diseases, Health Promotion, Humans, Hygiene, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Safety
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