Developing Locally-Relevant Educational Messages to Promote Restaurant Industry Preparedness Against Intentional Food Contamination

Background and issues: Intentional food contamination at restaurants by terrorists or disgruntled local individuals is a potential hazard, particularly post 9/11. Preventive practices against intentional contamination are widely deficient, and can be improved by targeted educational messages. For this, local public health agencies should identify key vulnerabilities, knowledge gaps, and resource status, to tailor messages to local context. This presentation will illustrate how public health nurses/ community partners can initiate locally relevant food defense preparedness activities. We present an illustrative experience in South Carolina of identifying the vulnerabilities, gaps and resource-efficient restaurant practices that would maximize public protection against intentional food contamination in restaurants. We will present the resulting educational DVD highlighting key practices to protect restaurant patrons' health in SC

Description: Our project was supported by CDC and FDA for survey development needed for community needs assessment, and for surveying restaurants to assess current prevalence of food defense practices and restaurant preferences regarding food defense education. Survey development involved focus groups and cognitive interviewing. A 50% random sample of South Carolina restaurants were surveyed in summer 2007. Data were analyzed to develop a targeted food defense strategy with targeted messages for South Carolina for maximum impact. We developed brochures and a 10-minute DVD with food defense practices of high salience: low prevalence, high-impact potential, and low-resource needs. The DVD will be projected.

Lessons learned: Focused, highly salient educational messages can improve preparedness levels at the field level with minimum resource implications for restaurants. Both the survey and DVD will be made available by mail upon request.