Is Extension Ready for Food Safety Education in the '90s?

Extension has identified food safety and quality as a priority issue to be addressed by educational programming. The goal is to have all members of the food chain, including producers, processors, distributors, food handlers, and consumers, make informed, responsible decisions related to food safety and quality.

This is a significant challenge that may not be met unless Extension can maintain its objectivity, upgrade the food safety knowledge of its personnel, and mount a coordinated educational program at the state and federal level.

The safety of the U.S. food supply is a legitimate concern and a scientifically complex issue. Recent reports from the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control indicate that about 33 million people, or 14% of the U.S. population, become ill each year from microorganisms in foods, leading to 9,000 deaths annually.1 Eating foods containing naturally occurring toxins, pesticides, heavy metals or drugs2 also creates the potential for foodborne illness. Unlike illnesses caused by microorganisms, which usually run their course in a few hours or days, foodborne illnesses of this type aren't well-characterized as to cause and effect, onset and duration of symptoms, and prognosis. Perhaps because of this uncertainty, consumers express greater concern about chemicals in food than about microorganisms.

Consumers can take some steps to ensure the safety of the food they eat. Some people may even decide to stop eating certain foods. Such a decision affects the variety, nutrient content, and cost of the person's diet. If large numbers of consumers change their eating habits to avoid what they perceive as a problem food or substance, it has an impact on people and industries all along the food chain.

Most consumers have difficulty assessing the level of risk associated with foods or substances in food and putting that risk into perspective. The ability to detect ever small amounts of chemicals in foods has eroded, rather than increased, public confidence in the safety of the food supply. The scientist may understand that the mere presence of a pesticide doesn't indicate an unacceptable risk and that the toxicity of the pesticide and amount consumed are key factors in determining actual risk. But, this concept isn't well-understood by the general public. Even scientists who have confidence in the scientific methods used to determine safety admit uncertainties about the effects of long- term consumption, synergistic or antagonistic effects from consuming several chemicals simultaneously, and increased risks to people with compromised immune systems.

The general assumption in Extension is that educational programming will reassure consumers about the safety of the food they buy and teach them to handle food so it remains safe until eaten. This approach won't work, however, unless Extension's viewed as an objective source of information, not as a pawn of powerful U.S. agri-industry interests or governmental regulatory agencies. Extension personnel must be fully aware that the smallest amount of misinformation or seemingly biased interpretation of facts, whether intentional or not, can potentially damage the credibility of Extension and render food safety education ineffective.

Extension agriculturalists and home economists have for years fielded questions and offered programming on food safety. Now Extension must examine the quality of their responses. We assessed the food safety knowledge and attitudes of Virginia Extension agents as part of a 1988 study funded in part by ES- USDA.3 Questionnaires were returned by 96 of a random sample of 106 Extension agents. Agents gave themselves an average score of 3 when asked to rate their food safety knowledge on a scale of 1 to 5. The mean score on 15 knowledge questions was 9.0 or 60%, with only nine agents scoring at or above 80%.

The questionnaire also contained a number of statements designed to assess agent food safety attitudes. Agents were asked to indicate whether they agreed, tended to agree, neither agreed nor disagreed, tended to disagree, or disagreed with each statement. There was consensus on a number of the statements, but about as many agents agreed as disagreed with the following statements:

• Use of artificial flavors should be discontinued in favor of natural flavors.
• Nitrates/nitrites shouldn't be used in cured meat products.
• Use of artificial colors in food should be discontinued.
• All additives known to cause cancer in laboratory animals should be removed from the food supply.
• More federal legislation in the area of food inspection is needed to assure the continued safety of the U.S. food supply.
• Use of pesticides on food should be curtailed.

After the assessment, inservice education and a reference manual were provided to help agents increase their knowledge of food safety. We didn't try, however, to measure changes in attitudes, so there's no guarantee participants came to any consensus about the safety of the food supply. Clearly, we must enhance the knowledge and expertise of Extension personnel to effectively offer food safety education to the public.

Food safety will likely continue to be a major concern during the 1990s. It's important Extension has some overall plan of action to deal with this issue. Effective food safety programming at all levels requires input from a number of disciplines, some of which may not be represented on every Extension faculty. Thus, individual states need to work closely and coordinate with one another and their federal counterparts on food safety issues. Only by such concerted action will Extension be adequately prepared to confront this scientifically complex issue.

1. D. L. Archer and J. E. Kvenberg, "Incidence and Cost of Foodborne Diarrheal Disease in the United States," Journal of Food Protection, XLVIII (No. 10, 1985), 887-94.

2. A. Gilchrist, Foodborne Disease and Food Safety (Monroe, Wisconsin: American Medical Association, 1981) and H. D. Graham, The Safety of Foods (Westport, Connecticut: Avi Publishing Company, Inc., 1980).

3. W. E. Barbeau and J. A. Barton, Final Report of an Interdisciplinary Research and Extension Program to Address Consumer Concerns About Food Safety (Blacksburg: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1990).