Food Thermometer Educational Materials: “Now You're Cooking…Using a Food Thermometer!”

Abstract

Use of food thermometers for checking the end-point temperature of small pieces of meat, such as hamburger patties, is recommended by the US Department of Agriculture but is uncommon among consumers.1 ,2 Most consumers rely on visual cues to judge the doneness of meat.2 We developed a set of educational materials to educate and motivate consumers to routinely use a thermometer for small cuts of meat, with the long-term goal of reducing the incidence of foodborne illnesses, particularly Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections. We used the Transtheoretical Model (TTM),or Stages of Change (SOC) theory, to assess consumer readiness regarding use of food thermometers.TTM assumes that 5 stages, precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance, are associated with behavior changes.Stage-matched interventions have been shown to be more effective than standardized treatments in moving people toward behavior change.3,4