Appraising nutrient availability of household food supplies using Block Dietary Screeners for individuals.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: The growing interest in environmental influences on obesity risk has spawned the development of tools for appraising home food availability. These tools reveal good reliability but tend to be limited in scope and burdensome to use. This cross-sectional study investigated the feasibility of using food categories and scoring algorithms from valid food frequency questionnaires for individuals (that is, Block Dietary Fat and Fruit-Vegetable-Fiber Screeners) to estimate nutrient availability in household food supplies. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Screeners were compared with household food inventories from 100 two-parent families with ⩾1 children ⩽12 years of age. Inventoried foods were coded to match Screener food groups, and amounts available were converted to total adult daily equivalent servings to express the greatest possible frequency at which each food group could be eaten/day/household. Scoring algorithms were converted to express all scores on a per-day basis. For the most conservative assessment, the highest point was used for day ranges for the Fruit-Vegetable-Fiber Screener and the lowest range point was used for the Fat Screener. RESULTS: Spearman's rank-order correlations (r⩾0.76) showed that the Fruit-Vegetable-Fiber Screener ranked households well for fruit/vegetable servings, vitamin C and dietary fiber. The Fat Screener and household inventory were positively correlated (r⩾0.58) for total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol. Concordance of household inventories and the Fruit-Vegetable-Fiber Screener, as determined by kappa with quadratic weighting, were strong and significant. Fat Screener concordance was moderate. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that it is feasible to use the efficient, valid Block Dietary Screeners for individuals to appraise household food supplies.

Comparison of food safety cognitions and self-reported food-handling behaviors with observed food safety behaviors of young adults.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Developing tailored and effective food safety education for young adults is critical given their future roles as caregivers likely to be preparing food for populations who may be at greater risk for foodborne disease (FBD). The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between food safety self-reported food-handling behaviors and cognitions of young adults to observed food-handling behaviors. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Participants were 153 young adults (mean age 20.74+/-1.30 s.d.) attending a major American university. Each prepared a meal under observation in a controlled laboratory setting, permitted researchers to observe their home kitchen and completed an online survey assessing food safety knowledge, behavior and psychosocial measures. Descriptive statistics were generated for participants' self-reported food-handling behaviors, psychosocial characteristics, knowledge, food preparation observations and home kitchen observations. Determinants of compliance with safe food-handling procedures while preparing a meal and home food storage/rotation practices were identified using backward regression models. RESULTS: Participants engaged in less than half of the recommended safe food-handling practices evaluated and correctly answered only two-thirds of the food safety knowledge items. They reported positive food safety beliefs and high food safety self-efficacy. Self-reported compliance with cross-contamination prevention, disinfection procedures and knowledge of groups at greatest risk for FBD were the best measures for predicting compliance with established safe food-handling practices. CONCLUSION: Food safety education directed toward young adults should focus on increasing awareness of FBD and knowledge of proper cross-contamination prevention procedures to help promote better compliance with actual safe food handling.