Food Safety and School Garden Program for Elementary and Middle School Students

Abstract

School food safety education programs have increased knowledge and promoted proper food safety practices, attitudes and beliefs of students. It is important to target children to have them be aware of good food safety practices at an early age. The purpose of the Food Safety and School Garden Program is to improve knowledge and best practices of elementary and middle school students related to the food safety of produce grown in school gardens. This is part of the Farm to School Project which is overseen by Farm Fresh RI, a not‐for‐profit organization with a mission to grow a local food system. The intervention was 2 lessons with interactive activities related to good versus bad bacteria, proper hand hygiene, and harvesting and washing garden produce. Students (N=115), ages 5‐11 years, were evaluated using baseline and post‐intervention tests consisting of 10 knowledge‐based questions. Paired t‐tests showed an increase in knowledge scores, over 39%, in correct responses from baseline to post‐intervention. Number of correct answers significantly increased from 5.3±1.8 to 7.4±2.0 (p<.001). The 2 questions that had the greatest improvement were related to distinguishing good versus bad bacteria and proper produce handling practices. This study supports the importance of early education intervention on proper food safety handling of produce from gardens.