Food Safety Focus Groups

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Food Safety Focus Groups

Appendix II

Moderator’s Guide

June 22, 2016

Introduction [~2 minutes]

Thanks for joining us today. I’m _____, and I’m from [XXX], a research organization. We are conducting research on behalf of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. As part of that research, we are holding discussions around the country about food and eating habits. The purpose of the discussion is to hear your views and opinions about these topics. Your insights are very important to us and your time today is appreciated. We will have about 90 minutes for our discussion.

Before we begin, I want to review a few ground rules for our discussion.

• There are no right or wrong answers in today’s discussion. We want to know your honest opinions and experiences.

• We are audio and video recording this conversation so that I can give you my full attention and not have to take a lot of notes. Some project staff from our research team will be watching the discussions from the video recording and/or from behind this one-way mirror. When writing up our findings, we will not include any information that could identify you. Your name, address, and phone number, will not be given to anyone, and no one will contact you about this research after this group is over.

• Everyone’s participation is important; we want to hear from everybody.

• It is OK to disagree.

• Please speak up (speak loudly).

• Please speak one at the time so we can hear all the responses – no side conversations.

• Please turn off your cell phones or anything else that may make it difficult to concentrate.

• If at any point you feel uncomfortable with my questions, simply let me know that you prefer not to answer.

• I am an independent consultant hired to moderate these discussions. Therefore, I don’t have a vested interest in receiving any particular point of view. I simply want to have an active and lively discussion with all of you. Also, I am not an expert about the topics we are going to discuss today. Therefore, you may have questions that I can’t answer.

• Do you have any questions before we begin?

Participant Introductions [5 minutes]

To begin, I would like to have you go around the table and introduce yourselves. Please tell me:

1. Your first name only.

2. Also, tell me about how many times per week you cook and what your favorite dish to cook is.

***The order of the topics may be rotated ***

Cell phone, tablets, and computers in the Kitchen [~30 minutes]

1. How often do you use a cellphone, tablet, or computer while you are cooking?

2. Which do you use most often? What do you use it for? [PROBE: Looking at recipes, talking/texting with friends, looking at things online, posting pictures, others]

3. Tell me about the last time you used a cell phone, tablet or computer while cooking? What were you making? What did you use it for? When did you use it?

4. Did you wash or wipe your hands after touching your cell phone, tablet, or computer? Tell me about how you washed or wiped your hands.

1. [If washed] How did you wash them? (PROBE: with soap and water, just a quick rinse, or some other way) Why did you wash them?

2. [If wiped] How did you wipe them? What did you use to wipe them?

3. What about before you touched the cell phone, tablet or computer? Did you wash your hands before touching it after you have started cooking?

5. How does washing your hands after touching your cell phone, tablet, or computer compare to how often you wash your hands in general while cooking?

6. Does washing your hands before you use your cell phone, tablet, or computer depend on what type of food you are preparing?

1. What if you are preparing raw meat, chicken, or fish?

2. What if you are preparing vegetable dish that did not contain raw meat, chicken, or fish?

3. What about washing your hands after touching the cell phone, tablet or computer? Does it depend on what type of food you are preparing? On something else?

7. Do you ever wash or clean your cell phone, tablet, or computer? When/how often do you do it? How do you clean it?

8. How concerned are you about germs getting on your cell phone, tablet, or computer while you cook? What about germs from your cell phone, tablet, or computer getting into the food you are cooking?

Restaurant Inspection Scores [~25 minutes]

Now, I would like to shift our discussion to eating at restaurants.

1. About how often do you go out to eat?

2. What factors do you think about when deciding which restaurant to go to?

   1. [NOTE: I am interested in seeing if health inspection scores or food safety/cleanliness come up spontaneously. No need to dwell on any other aspect. If these topics don’t emerge pretty quickly, move on to the next question.]

3. How concerned are you about the safety of the food served in restaurants? How do you know if food at a restaurant is safe?

4. Have you ever seen or heard about restaurant health inspections scores, grades, or ratings? Where did you see them?

5. When was the last time you saw one? What did it look like? What did it say? What do you think they are used for?

   1. [NOTE: We plan on having an example printed in case the moderator wants to show it to the group.]

6. Did it influence your decision about eating at that restaurant? How?

7. Has a restaurant health inspection score ever influenced your decision about where to eat? Tell me about that time.

   1. If it did not have any influence, why not?

8. What kind of information about a restaurant’s health inspection would you be interested in seeing? Why? What would an ideal restaurant health inspection rating look like?

   1. What type of information would it contain?

   2. Where would you want to find the information? [PROBE: posted outside the restaurant, on websites like Yelp, via apps for finding restaurant ratings, on county health websites]

9. Do you think that publically posting restaurant inspection scores can influence food safety at that restaurant? Why or why not?

Consumer Advisory Statements [~25 minutes]

Now, I would like to focus on information found on restaurant menus.

1. Have you ever seen information on restaurant menus warning you about the risks of eating certain foods?

2. What did this information look like? What foods were labeled as being “risky”? Why do you think those items were labeled? How were they labeled? Was the information easy to understand? Useful? Why or why not?

3. Did you ever change your mind about a food after seeing this type of message? Tell me about that time.

4. Here is an example of the type of message I am talking about: HAVE SHEET HANGING IN ROOM WITH MESSAGE.

   1. “Consuming raw or undercooked meats, poultry, seafood, shellfish, or eggs may increase your risk of foodborne illness.”

5. Have you seen this type of message before? What do you think about this message? What do you think it means? Is there anything confusing about this message?

6. Why do you think this information is there?

7. Why do you think that certain foods/menu items are considered risky?

8. Who do you think these messages are for? [PROBE: What about people with certain medical conditions?]

9. Is this message helpful for you? Why or why not? How could it be more useful to you?

10. How would you like to receive information about potentially risky foods served in restaurants? Where would you like to find the information?

Closing [~5 min]

That’s all the questions I have. Do you have any questions for me or any additional feedback that you’d like to provide?

Let me check with my colleges in the other room and see if they have any additional questions.

Thank you very much for your time today. Your feedback is very much appreciated.

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