Just desserts from our poor food safety culture?

Abstract

there is anything we are serious about, it is neither religion nor learning, but food. Un Yutang1Preparing nutritious, appetising and above all, safe, food should be one of the easiest of all human activities. We have had a few thousand years perfect It, after all. Yet food related outbreaks continue occur. As demonstrated by a selection of papers In this Issue, there remain many barriers food safety, with an emphasis on the lack of training and the peculiarly modern approach of trying address cultures and behaviours. Food safety culture now has Its own acronym (FSC) - making me wonder If within the Food Standards Agency there's a door marked 'Food Culture Unit', beyond which lurk worried scientists pondering on how get us apply emotional Intelligence food choices and preparation. If not, perhaps there should be, as It Is clear that surveys asking If caterers/food workers carry out all food safety behaviours at all times are a somewhat crude way of getting the nub of the problem. A credit for honesty should be given the 63% who did not tick this box In the survey cited by MacAuslanF Outbreaks and Inspections reveal the reality of poor 'learning cultures' In food establishments and we are only too aware of how a lax organisational culture on safety affects behaviours from the top, right down the temporary staff drafted In at busy times. Attendance on courses Is one solution, but since a lack of time for training Is such a common excuse for poor standards, the attention has shifted how Influence behaviours In a subtler and more continuous way. This means beginning with the very young, so the Hey! Programme (Healthy Eating for Young Children) seems like a good start.3 Aimed at disadvantaged communities, this programme uses social Interaction, such as shared lunches and comparisons of savings based on healthier shopping lists. While early results are promising, such Initiatives have combat the deluge of advertising which both parents and their children are subjected. A current TV advertisement urges viewers say Hmmm If they are eating chips tonight, but that Is not the only way that children are Influenced. Commercial sponsorship supplement school equipment budgets comes at a heavy price, If It means that children are encouraged collect box tops from products that will make them not just heavier but also less Inclined healthy diets.4Part of the problem Is that the results of poor food quality, or poorly balanced diets, are rarely Immediate and thus one of the learned behaviours Is that humans can get away with lax standards a lot of the time. The writer Mark Twain quipped that a secret of success In life Is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside. While those of us In the know may think this could result In Montezuma's revenge (one of the names for 'travellers' diarrhoea), the evidence base Is far from the minds of most food consumers, or Indeed some of the food workers. …