Progress 09/15/02 to 09/14/04
Outputs
The LSU AgCenter formed a tri-state coalition with three other land grant universities, Southern University Agriculture Research and Extension Center, the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service and Mississippi State University, serving the Lower Mississippi Delta (LMD) to develop and teach a safe food handler training curriculum to benefit vulnerable populations in the LMD. The goal of the project was to reduce the incidence of foodborne illness and improve nutrition of food recovery agency clientele through implementation of a safe food handler curriculum designed to increase knowledge and adoption of safe food handling practices by participating food recovery program personnel and volunteers. An additional goal was to enhance and reinforce the food safety efforts of food recovery agencies. A train the trainer curriculum, Serving Food Safely, was developed and implemented. The curriculum contained 10 lessons complete with lesson plans, fact sheets and
presentations for each lesson. In addition, a video and display were produced for trainers use. Evaluation survey instruments, including food safety knowledge pre- and posttests and food safety practices post- and delayed tests, were developed by the HUEC nutrition graduate student under the direction of the project co-directors. A core of extension agents was also trained to serve as a resource for the food recovery agencies in their training efforts. Serving Food Safely workshops were conducted by project faculty in parishes/counties of the LMD in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas for approximately 500 food recovery agency personnel and volunteers. Project evaluation was conducted using data from food safety knowledge and practices survey instruments administered at the workshops and by mail follow-up 3 to 4 months following the workshops. Results demonstrated the food safety curriculum was used successfully to improve food safety knowledge and to promote and support the use of
recommended food safety practices by food recovery agency personnel and volunteers. Ninety-eight percent of participants demonstrated improved knowledge of recommended food safety practices based on pre and post instrument results. Safe food handler training workshops will continue to be conducted throughout the tri-state area.
Impacts
Project evaluation was conducted using data from food safety knowledge and practices survey instruments administered at the workshops and by mail follow-up 3 to 4 months following the workshops. Results demonstrated the food safety curriculum was used successfully to improve food safety knowledge and to promote and support the use of recommended food safety practices by food recovery agency personnel and volunteers. Safe food handler training workshops will continue to be conducted throughout the tri-state area. The safe food handler training program developed for this project will help to prevent foodborne illness and promote good nutrition in vulnerable individuals who receive food from food recovery programs. In addition, the project should provide enhancement and reinforcement of the food safety efforts of food recovery agencies.
Publications
- Master of Science Thesis: Waggoner, Sara Katherine, Louisiana State University 2004 FOOD SAFETY KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICES OF FOOD RECOVERY AGENCY WORKERS BEFORE AND AFTER FOOD SAFETY TRAINING (Thesis in preparation for publication)
|
Progress 01/01/03 to 12/31/03
Outputs
In its second year, the tri-state safe food handler project, "Preventing Foodborne Illness in a Vulnerable Population in the Lower Mississippi Delta," focused on (1) completing a list of existing food recovery organizations in participating states (2) recruiting food recovery agencies from each state for participation in the project (3) developing the safe food handler curriculum, including lesson plans, fact sheets and a video to train food recovery agency personnel and volunteers, (4) developing the survey instruments to collect data (5) training project faculty to present the safe food handler curriculum (6) initiation of the safe food handler training program via workshop presentations of the curriculum to food recovery agency personnel and volunteers. During the second year, project co-directors and agents continued identifying existing food recovery organizations in their respective states, by county or parish. Additional site visits were made by project
co-directors to selected food recovery agencies in Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi to assess food-handling practices. Two meetings via distance education were held for project co-directors in Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi to discuss project objectives and implementation. Project co-directors responsible for preparing the safe food handler train-the-trainer curriculum used previously identified references and resources on food handling/storage practices and temperatures for holding, storage, distribution and serving of prepared and perishable foods by food recovery organizations (from distributing agencies to sources of consumption) to prepare the curriculum materials. An interactive food safety web site, designed for the project by the LSU AgCenter Information Technology unit, was utilized by project faculty to review the food safety curriculum fact sheets, lesson plans, and video prepared by the LSU AgCenter Communications unit. Curriculum training of project faculty was
conducted via distance education and at selected sites. Implementation of the training for some of the recruited food recovery agency personnel and volunteers was initiated in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Impacts
The safe food handler training program developed for this project will help to prevent foodborne illness and promote good nutrition in vulnerable individuals who receive food from food recovery programs. In addition, the project should provide enhancement and reinforcement of the food safety efforts of food recovery agencies.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
|
Progress 01/01/02 to 12/31/02
Outputs
September 15, 2002 - December 31, 2002 In the first three months of the project, the initial efforts focused on the following accomplishments: Three meetings via distance education were held for project co-directors from Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi to discuss project objectives and implementation. The project co-directors responsible for preparing the safe food handler train-the-trainer curriculum began identifying references and resources on food handling/storage practices and temperatures used for holding, storage, distribution and serving of prepared and perishable foods by food recovery organizations (from distributing agencies to sources of consumption). Project co-directors and agents also began identifying existing food recovery organizations in their respective states, by county or parish. The directors of several food recovery agencies in the three states were contacted to arrange for their participation in the project, and site visits were made by
project co-directors to selected food recovery agencies to assess food handling practices. An interactive food safety web site has been designed for the project, to include drafts of the food safety curriculum fact sheets and lesson plans for editing by all project co-directors, a calendar of training dates, meetings and events, and the completed curriculum. Dates have been set for additional site visits, curriculum review, and video production.
Impacts
The safe food handlers' train-the-trainer program developed for this project will help to prevent foodborne illness in vulnerable individuals who receive food from food recovery organizations. In addition, the project should provide enhancement and reinforcement of the food safety efforts of food recovery agencies.
Publications
|
|