Food safety education attitude and practice among health professionals in China, Peru, and the U.S.

Abstract

Consumers trust health professionals (doctors, nurses, dietitians, and physicians) for food safety information. However, in the U.S., half health professionals are not confident with their food safety knowledge, and less than half of the health professionals provide food safety education to their patients. Little information on health professional food safety education awareness has been reported outside the U.S. In this study, health professionals from China, Peru, and the U.S. were contacted to explore their likelihood to and barriers to delivering food safety information. A semi-structured interview was used in China and Peru (n = 42) while in the U.S., focus groups (n = 27) and web-based surveys (n = 188) were used. The attitude and practice of health professionals, major barriers to information delivery, the information needed for food safety education, and effective delivery format were evaluated. The results indicated that nearly all the health professionals recognized the necessity of providing food safety education, but only 17 of 42 participants delivered food safety education in China and Peru while more than half participants delivered in the U.S. The three countries shared two main barriers in food safety education: 1) patients demonstrated lack of interest in this topic 2) health professionals did not have enough time to provide the food safety education. The findings provided evidence to guide the decision making for policymakers, educators and health professionals to develop the next-generation food safety education strategies for the public.