FSIS Response to Comments by Shauna Henley

FSIS Response to Comments from Shauna C. Henley

January 23, 2018

Comments from Sauna C. Henley identified the following eight items that we should consider:

1. Recruitment is with English speakers, however, is there great concern that unique handling behaviors linked to food and culture will be missed?

2. Similarly, emerging food trends, how will this be handled during your questioning route?

3. Will focus groups be categorized by religion and/or dietary practices. For instance, with my dissertation, I would have loved to do more research looking at how do you communicate with someone who is Kosher or Muslim and chicken washing? Washing chicken is deeply rooted in religion and how do you effectively and appropriately hit common ground?

4. Organic meats and eggs should be looked at. I know Harvey et al. looked at organic produce and outbreaks, however, consumers are horribly miss informed when assuming organic foods are healthier and SAFER.

5. The meat and poultry hotline have been well received the past 30 yrs, however, smaller campaigns like Boomburgers, Is It Done Yet, Don't Wash Your Chicken, either fade over time, or don't seem to resonate with consumers. Maybe we need to be more aggressive in marketing food safety messages and flood the market. Most people don't know of these past and current campaigns. When is the last time an all-star athlete or movie star was "selling" food safety on YouTube and tv Ads during big games? Who doesn't get a laugh at food safety-Look at Malcolm in the Middle and Bob's Burgers.

6. The Baldwin group did a good job gaining information for Boomburgers but how effective and lasting was the campaign? How will this FG project 12yrs later be different? Lessons learned?

7. Will backyard flocks, eggs, and outbreaks be addressed? People don't seem to separate themselves with animal husbandry and pets based on the CDC data.

8. The public perception of how butchers etc handle meat is not in light, and there is a huge trust and image piece that may be key for people washing chicken and meats

Regarding comment #1 on recruitment of non-English speaking individuals, we plan to conduct four of the eight focus groups in Set 1 with Spanish-speaking adults. Resources are not available to recruit individuals who speak other languages for the other focus groups.

Regarding comments #2, 4, 7, and 8, although these are important food safety topics to explore, they are not outcome measures of interest for the current focus group study.

Regarding comment #3, in the Set 2 focus groups on raw or undercooked meets, we will recruit individuals who consume kibbeh or similar dishes made with raw meat and chicken livers or chicken liver pâté livers. Because of limited resources and the small number of groups (two groups for each type of raw/undercooked meat), we will be unable to specifically recruit individuals of specific religions or segment groups by religion. During these group discussions, however, we may hear that religion (i.e., Muslim, Judaism) and/or other characteristics such as cultural practices may influence how people handle, prepare, or consume these foods, which as you suggest, will be informative for developing messaging on these specific foods. In addition, although poultry washing at home is a concern of FSIS, it is not an outcome measure of interest for the focus group study. As part of the larger annual consumer food safety project, FSIS plans to conduct an observation study in spring/summer 2018 to measure whether specific FSIS food safety messages have an effect on washing poultry at home.

Regarding comments #5 and #6, the purpose of the current focus group study is to provide FSIS with the information needed to develop effective messaging and dissemination strategies to help reduce foodborne illness attributed to the consumption of raw or undercooked meat and poultry products.

Through its outreach efforts, FSIS works to increase consumers’ adherence to recommended food safety practices, including the avoidance of consuming raw and undercooked meat and poultry products. This study is part of an ongoing effort by FSIS to evaluate the effectiveness of its outreach efforts.

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