- Author: Chutima Ganthavorn
- Author: Katie Panarella
- Contributor: Shyra Murrey
EFNEP delivered food safety lessons to over 4,000 participants last year, with nearly 2,500 reporting improvements in food safety knowledge and practices. EFNEP's work contributes to UC ANR's public value of safeguarding sufficient, safe, and healthy food for all Californians.
The Issue
The foodborne illness burden in the U.S. is estimated at 48 million cases, 128,000 hospitalizations, and 3000 deaths each year (CDC.gov). This burden will likely increase during the coronavirus pandemic since more families are now cooking and preparing meals at home. With limited consumer knowledge about food safety, the likelihood of foodborne illness increases. Moreover, today's consumers often rely on the internet for health information. Studies have found inaccurate food safety advices on TV cooking shows and recipe blogs. A recent study reveals misinformation abounds on social media and internet question and answer websites.
How UC Delivers
Food safety is one of the four core areas of the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). California EFNEP, a statewide program of UC ANR, teaches food safety and safe food handling practices as part of the nine-lesson nutrition series for limited-resource families in 19 counties. Adult participants, mostly those responsible for preparing meals for the family, learn reliable food safety information based on research such as food safety basics, the four core practices to prevent foodborne illness, safe minimum cooking temperature, and proper storage of leftovers. In addition to teaching concepts, EFNEP educators demonstrate proper handwashing and other safe food handling practices during recipe demonstration. Youth participants in lower grades (K-2) learn about when and how to wash hands. EFNEP educators use the Glo-germ demonstration, which illustrates proper handwashing. Youth in upper grades also learn about food safety basics and how to store and handle food safely. During the pandemic, EFNEP quickly pivoted to offer classes virtually so that food safety lessons could continue. During the 2020 program year, EFNEP statewide delivered food safety lessons to 2,981 adult participants and 1,323 youth.
The pre/post EFNEP Adult Questionnaire utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of EFNEP shows 85% (1850 of 2187) of participants improved in one or more food safety practices, such as washing hands before preparing food, washing all items and surfaces after cutting raw meat or seafood, not thawing frozen food at room temperature, and using a meat thermometer. Thawing frozen food at room temperature is not recommended but appears to be common among EFNEP participants; only 29% met this recommendation before the training. After the EFNEP lesson, 65% of participants indicated they now less often thaw frozen food at room temperature. Among youth participants from grades K-12, 55% (733 of 1323) of children and youth gain knowledge or use safe food handling practices more often. Research shows that these food safety practices can reduce the prevalence of foodborne illness. Therefore, these outcomes demonstrate how EFNEP contributes to improved food safety and the public value of safeguarding sufficient, safe, and healthy food for all Californians.
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- Author: Christine Davidson
- Author: Chutima Ganthavorn
- Contributor: Roxana Puentes
EFNEP and Ventanilla de Salud partnership reaches Latinx and farmworker clients through UCCE Connects to You! Zoom series. Forty-three percent improve food security indicators, contributing to UC ANR's public value of sufficient, safe, and healthy food for all Californians.
The Issue:
The Ventanilla de Salud (Window on Health) is a program that is implemented through 50 Mexican consulates in the United States. The goal of Ventanilla de Salud (VdS) of San Bernardino is to promote health literacy and healthy lifestyle choices, conduct health screenings, and increase access to health care for Latinxs who visit the Mexican Consulate in San Bernardino. According to UCLA's Community Health Interview Survey, almost half (46.9%) of Latinxs in San Bernardino County are not able to afford enough food in 2019. VdS engages families by holding a variety of in-person classes and one-time workshops while they wait for appointments. Due to shelter-in-place orders during the COVID-19 pandemic, VdS started providing virtual training and partnered with EFNEP to fulfill the needs for workshops focusing on a healthy diet and physical activity on virtual platforms.
How UC Delivers:
EFNEP Educator, Roxana Puentes, collaborated with VdS by holding a Facebook Live event to entice over 1000 VdS followers with a glimpse of the healthy recipes, physical activities and nutrition information they would learn if they enroll in EFNEP. The viewers made positive comments and liked the presentation. VdS helped EFNEP schedule and enroll interested participants in the series of four live group Zoom sessions. The participants received a total of 8 lessons, two lessons at a time, sent via mail or email. The lesson topics included physical activity, fruits and vegetables, reading the food label, saving money, managing food resources, food safety, and healthy recipes. Each Zoom session included a 5-minute physical activity break where participants walked, stretched or learned simple resistance exercises using items in their homes. Exercise breaks reinforced concepts learned about the importance of physical activity and gave them ideas to do on their own time. The Zoom sessions provided opportunities for participants to interact and share successes and challenges they were facing feeding children, such as picky eaters, difficulty finding time to cook, unsure what healthier items to choose at the grocery store, and making physical activity a priority. Although over 50 VdS participants participated in the Zoom session each time, 14 people attended the whole series and graduated. At the end of the series, graduates received a certificate and cookbook by mail.
The Impact:
EFNEP serves limited resource families, making food security and food resource management important aspects of the program. According to research in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, food resource management education has been shown to improve food security. At the beginning of EFNEP classes, 43% of class participants said they always lacked money or another way to get enough food for the family during the past month, and 57% said that they ate less so there was more food for the family. After participation in EFNEP, 43% of graduates showed improvement in one or more food security indicators, and 64% showed improvement in food management practices including compare food prices, plan meals, and looking in refrigerator or cupboard and make a list before shopping, which in turn saves money and stretches the food dollar. Additionally, 79% of graduates showed improvement in one or more diet quality indicators such as eating fruits and vegetables more often. About half of the participants reported making small changes to be more active. Overall, EFNEP helped improve living conditions for participants from VdS and contributes to the UCANR public value of promoting healthy people and communities.
“Thank you very much for this wonderful workshop. I learn a lot. Grateful.”, EFNEP Participant from Ventanilla de Salud
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