Online food-safety educational programs are increasingly important to educate different populations as technology and culture shift to using more technology. However, the broad effectiveness of these programs has yet to be examined. A systematic review, random-effects meta-analysis, and thematic synthesis are conducted to identify the effect size of online food-safety educational programs on knowledge, attitudes, and practices of consumers, food workers, and students and their respective barriers and recommendations. Online food-safety education was found to be of moderate and low effectiveness, with attitudes being the lowest in all populations. Consumers struggled with staying focused, and it was found that messaging should focus on risk communication. Students struggled with social isolation and a lack of time, and it was recommended that videos be used. Food workers struggled with a lack of time for training and difficulty understanding the material, and future programs are recommended to implement shorter but more frequent trainings with simple language. Future online food-safety educational programs should focus on incorporating social elements, as they can remain a huge barrier to learning. They should also focus on changing the participant’s attitude to risk perception and beliefs in the importance of food safety.

Wheat flour and baking mix have been associated with foodborne outbreaks and recalls, yet many consumers are unaware of the repercussions of consuming raw flour products. The objective of this study was to evaluate the accessibility of flour safety messages on commercially available packages and to identify consumer barriers to processing these messages. Eye-tracking technology was used to track the eye movements of 47 participants to assess their time to fixation (TTF) on the flour safety messages on 10 commercial packages. Notifications that were longer than one sentence were considered “long” messages, while notifications that consisted of only one sentence were considered short (S1–S5 and L1–L5). Only two participants (4.3%) found messages on all 10 packages. Highly accessible messages did not result in a high preference of presentation among participants. Most of the participants (98%) found the message on the S4 package, which correlated with the lowest TTF of 7.08 s. However, only 15% of those who found the S4 message chose it as their preferred message. Many participants who were interviewed said that they preferred messages that identified the reasoning for the warnings. They also preferred the messages that were well separated from other content on the package. Flour safety messages on the current packages are not effective to convey information and change consumer behavior. More science-based messaging strategies need to be developed to provide guidance for flour safety communication.

Small-scale processors represent a large segment of all food processors in the United States. However, they struggle in adapting to the evolving criteria for food safety management, including effective employee food safety training. This study identifies barriers that small-scale processors encounter in employee food safety training programs and assesses their perceptions of various training formats. This qualitative method study was conducted by means of semi-structured interviews of up to one hour each with 30 food safety managers from small-scale food processors. This study identified four major food safety training barriers: accessibility problems, varying baseline knowledge, lack of engagement, and time and budget insufficiencies. Small-scale processors made several recommendations to overcome barriers identified in this study. To improve learning outcomes achieved by food safety training programs, participants suggested using in-facility imagery, "real world" examples, and small training groups. Additionally, small-scale processors preferred a hybrid delivery format to improve food safety training programs and create more accessible opportunities. Small-scale processors perceived food safety regulations as ambiguous. They felt that regulations did not clearly define the food safety requirements in their facilities. Participants also identify a lack of existing resources for food safety management and challenges in prioritizing food safety training topics among management personnel as barriers to robust food safety plan development. This study's findings will inform food safety educators and extension specialists about ways to create more effective training for small-scale food processors.

In recent years, many recalls have been linked to flour and flour-based products. However, many consumers remain unaware of these recalls and continue to perform risky flour-handling behaviors. Food recalls are an essential tool for manufacturers, distributors, and government agencies to inform consumers about foods that may cause health issues, which has the potential to change consumers' food safety behaviors. In this study, researchers constructed model-ensembles to predict and identify the top predicting factors for consumers' flour recall awareness and their safe flour-handling behaviors. Researchers also tested the impact of the volume of flour recalls within a consumer's state of residence on their recall awareness and flour-handling behaviors. Findings indicate that consumers who perceive a higher likelihood of flour recall, aged between 18 and 24, and who pay attention to the lot number, are more likely to be aware of flour recalls. Consumers who perceive the risks of eating raw dough or batter, believe raw chicken poses a microbial risk, and are younger, are more likely to have an increased flour-handling behavior score. However, the volume of recalls in a consumer's state of residence was found to have a low predictive ability for consumers' flour recall awareness and safe flour-handling behaviors. This is the first study utilizing predictive modeling to investigate the critical factors affecting consumers' flour recall awareness and handling behaviors. The findings emphasize the importance of risk perceptions in shaping consumers' behaviors and provide implications for policymakers, food safety experts, and educators in tailoring communication strategies to enhance consumers' risk perceptions and thereby reduce their likelihood of contracting foodborne illnesses due to improper flour-handling behaviors.