Virginia Food Bank Employees’ Food Safety Education Experiences, Challenges, and Needs

Regional food banks train employee and volunteer food handlers to distribute food. While previous research has identified that hunger-relief food handlers increase their knowledge of safe food handling after participating in trainings, hunger-relief food handlers have also been observed improperly handling food. Based on Keller’s Attitude, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction Model of Motivational Design, trainings and materials which align with the motivations of food handlers could improve the translation of knowledge to behavior. Interviews were conducted with representatives from three of Virginia’s regional food banks to determine their perceptions of safe food handling education, unique food safety challenges to inform novel educational materials, and motivations for service. Participants expressed that food safety education should be contextualized specific to how the food handler is expected to handle food. They described how a food handler’s pre-existing beliefs and food handling behaviors can, at times, conflict with how they are expected to handle food. Their interviews identified that food safety trainings could be delivered through multiple mediums to capture and maintain attention, provide role-specific and relevant information, utilize problem-solving scenarios to develop confidence, and promote satisfaction by offering rewards to participants.