Improving Food Hygiene and Nutrition
Robert Faulkner, from Stoke on Trent City Council’s Consumer Protection Service, explains how members of local community groups were invited to be trained as food hygiene and nutrition ‘champions’ who could offer advice to their local community on hygiene and healthy eating, particularly within the home setting. This initiative was a Food Standards Agency ‘Food and Nutrition Grant’ winner in 2005 – 2006.
Project Name: Improving Food Hygiene & Nutrition in our Communities
Project Start Date: 1st April 2005
Location: Stoke-on-Trent and surrounding authorities
Project Aim:To raise hygiene and nutritional awareness across the key community groups in Stoke on Trent, and the surrounding areas of Staffordshire
Project Objectives:
- Greater hygiene awareness of;
- Safer hand washing and cleaning within the home to reduce risks of cross contamination
- Safer storage and temperature control of high risk foods
- Safer cooking and reheating of food
- Awareness of ‘best before’ and ‘use by’ date coding
- Safer preparation of food to reduce risks of cross contamination
- Awareness of food safety issues concerning pets in the home
- Safer packed lunches
- The need to eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables every day
- Reducing salt intake by checking labels
- Reducing fat intake and how to achieve this
- Reducing sugar intake by checking labels and changing diet
- Drinking more water each day
- Following the ‘balance of good health’ for portion control and a balanced diet
- How to create a healthy packed lunch
- How to create a healthy affordable family meal
- Increased consumption of healthier foods, measured by questionnaire and monitoring over a 6 month period, and via food dairies
- Safer preparation, cooking and storage of foods in the home, measured by questionnaire and monitoring over a 6 month period
- Reduction of food poisoning incidents in the area, measured by monitoring over a 6-12 month period.
Organisations Involved:
1. Stoke on Trent City Council Consumer Protection Service – who were responsible for project management
2. North Staffordshire Primary Care Trust – who provided specialist support to deliver nutritional advice training sessions to partner community members, and supporting materials
3. Staffordshire Moorlands District Council & Newcastle Borough Council – these 2 neighbouring authorities provided a list of suitable contacts on their area and offered support to those champions who signed up from it
Target Audience:
Community groups selected worked with a variety of groups including those with special needs, the elderly, young children and persons from different ethnic backgrounds
Methodology:
Community groups within the city were approached by letter, asking if leaders or members would like to become a food hygiene and nutrition champion. Over 30 champions then attended a briefing event which outlined how the project would work and their commitment to it. Guidance notes were issued on how to carry out a basic hygiene check in 10 of their community group member’s homes. They were also responsible for offering basic nutritional tips and how to develop affordable menu ideas. Each champion was issued with a probe thermometer to take fridge/freezer/cooking temperatures. Following the briefing, the champions were asked to participate in a Foundation Certificate in Food Hygiene course and a healthy eating course, both of which were free of charge. The food hygiene course was structured to have a slight emphasis towards hygiene in the home and the nutrition course had an emphasis on the creation of affordable healthy menus.
The champions then set about completing their checklists in ten homes. Many chose to complete these within their work setting with people from vulnerable and special needs groups. Other opted to contact friends, family and neighbours to pass on the information. Each champion completed a checklist at the end of their visit to 10 homes (300 in total) and gave out a basic fridge thermometer, packed lunch guidance and other advice booklets and promotional materials. The checklists were then sent in to be evaluated before the closing date.
In order to determine what effect the healthy eating course made, the champions were asked to complete a food diary, for one week prior to the course, and one week after.
Funding:
The project received a grant from the Food Standards Agency of £10,000.
Sustainability:
Although the grant money has been spent, a conscious decision has been made to mainstream the work performed within this project and to extend it into other areas of Health and Environment.
Evaluation:
The project has been evaluated at 3 different stages.
Stage 1: Each community champion was given a free one day Foundation Certificate in Food Hygiene course, and those who passed received a certificate. The champions were also given a free one day basic Nutrition course and issued with a certificate of attendance.
Results: A total of 30 champions completed the hygiene and nutrition courses
Stage 2: Each champion was asked to complete a checklist with their 10 identified homes and to complete a food diary before and after the nutrition training.
Results: A total of 219 checklists were returned. A full breakdown of the results under each checklist heading is available from Stoke on Trent City Council, however a summary of findings is given here;
- 96% of people surveyed in the home had hot water, soap and towel available for use. 74% had an antibacterial spray available to enable them to disinfect surfaces properly.
- A varying range of refrigerator and freezer temperatures were found, although 76% kept their refrigerator below 5oc. Those with temperatures outside the recommended maximum welcomed advice and adjusted the appliance settings at the time of the visit.
- Most of the questionnaires indicated that people were eating an average of 2-3 portions of fruit and vegetables a day and 43% were checking labels for salt, sugar and fat.
- 18 champions returned their food diaries detailing their eating habits before and after the nutrition training. There was an obvious increase in the amount of fruit and vegetables eaten by the champions after the training, a reduction in the number of ‘missed meals’ and a reduction in the number of chocolate bars and other sugary snacks consumed.
Results: This part of the evaluation is to be completed in the future.
Lessons Learnt:
- Recruitment – It was found that a personal visit or a phone call to the right person had a better response than a mail shot, when recruiting champions. Promotional flyers were also a good way to get people interested in the project.
- People leaving the project – Unfortunately, some champions left part way through the project. Allowing for this in the initial number of people recruited helped.
- Deadlines – The deadline had to be extended due to the initial poor return of checklists and diaries received.
- Non completion of the project – a few champions did not complete the project and therefore return the checklists and diaries, despite taking part in the project and attending the training courses. A possible solution to this could be future champions being charged a penalty fee to recover part of the training costs.
Contact Details:
Contact: Robert Faulkner
Job Title: Customer Support Manager
Address:
Stoke on Trent City Council
Hanley Town Hall
Albion Street
Stoke on Trent
ST1 1XP
Email: robert.faulkner@civic1.stoke.gov.uk