Serve It Safely To Seniors

Author : Megan M. Welsh
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 26 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (131 download)

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Download or read book Food Safety and Safe Food Handling in the Home for Senior Citizens written by Megan M. Welsh and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that foodborne contaminants cause approximately 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths each year. Although federal studies show that seniors do a better job of handling food safely than other age groups, their "safe" handling practices may not adhere to current guidelines. The elderly are also at risk for inadequate nutritional intake due to the presence of digestive disorders like malabsorption, dental problems, and dysphagia. The elderly are more susceptible to getting sick with a foodborne illness that most other age groups, due to weakened immune function, decrease in stomach acid, certain medical conditions and medications. Medications also affect the digestive tract as they can decrease the appetite and alter taste. Instructions in simple and safe food handling techniques may lessen the impact of harmful bacteria prevalent in the environment. Food safety guidelines have been developed by the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service and the FDA's Center for Food Safely and Applied Nutrition to provide consumers with rules to ensure safe food. The USDA has narrowed down the home food safety guidelines to four basic rules, Clean, Separate, Cook, and Chill. The research design of this study was quasi-experimental. The research procedure consisted of a needs assessment, a pretest, an educational intervention, and a posttest. Ten research participants were recruited using word-of-mouth and referrals from senior center in Wayne, Pennsylvania. The participants were white, upper socio-economic class men and women, ranging in age from 55 years to 80 years, with educational backgrounds that surpassed high school level. The educational intervention consisted of an interactive lecture by the researcher on basic food safety, why seniors are at special risk for foodborne illness, and the four rules of food safety in the home. The results of the study were based upon the scores of both the pre- and posttests. The pretest results showed that the mean score was 5.6. The mean score from the posttest was 7.7. This study demonstrated that the subjects' knowledge of food safety in the home increased after the educational intervention by approximately 37.5%.