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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Food safety awareness of older people at home
— a pilot study | | Author(s) | Philippa K Hudson, Heather J Hartwell |
| Journal title | Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health, vol 122, no 3, September 2002 |
| Pages | pp 165-169 |
| Keywords | Food hygiene ; Attitude ; Social surveys ; Pilot. |
| Annotation | A focus group of 9 older people (aged 70-85) was initially conducted to elucidate areas of potential concern about food safety for older people living at home. This was followed up by semi-structured interviews and observations with 16 women volunteers (age range 60-89) within the home. Results show that most participants had not measured their refrigerator temperature and did not know what it should be. Most had not adjusted the temperature control /dial, and gauged the "correct" temperature by the feel of goods inside. "Use by" dates were generally well understood, but not always adhered to, due to difficulty with reading the labels. Items were purchased near the end of this date as they are sometimes cheaper; and although most appreciated these dates related to food safety, items were often kept for up to a month before consumption. There is a lack of readily available educational material on this topic, and most people would like to be better informed. If the government is to encourage more independent lifestyles, then awareness of food safety should be higher up the agenda. Any further research should include an assessment on the impact of situations where food consumed at home is prepared elsewhere, e.g. meals on wheels. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-021120210 A |
| Classmark | YKM: DP: 3F: 4UC |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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