Research – Handwashing and Thermometer Use

FSIS USDA 

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) contracted with RTI International and its subcontractor North Carolina State University (NCSU) to conduct meal preparation studies to evaluate consumer food handling behaviors in a test kitchen. The research team is conducting five separate iterations of the meal preparation study to address a specific consumer behavior and to determine the effectiveness of a behavior change intervention. The meal preparation studies are part of a larger 5-year annual study that also includes focus groups (two iterations) and web surveys (two iterations). This report describes the results of the first iteration of the meal preparation study that examined consumers’ use of food thermometers when cooking ground turkey patties.