Food safety within the household: a cross-sectional study among domestic food handlers in Italy

• Foodborne diseases in the domestic environment are a public health challenge • DFHs’ practices related to hand hygiene are suboptimal • A consistent proportion of the sample reported thawing food at room temperature • Timely storing leftovers in the refrigerator is lacking • Information campaigns to tackle unsafe food handling practices are strongly needed Foodborne diseases (FBDs) originating in the domestic environment remain a large and growing public health challenge. However, most FBDs may be preventable by following simple safe food handling practices. Thus, the study objectives were to summarize the status of unsafe food handling practices among domestic food handlers (DFHs) and assess potential predictors of those practices. This cross-sectional study was conducted among Italian DFHs using a self-administered questionnaire. Data on sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge about FBDs, risk perceptions and concerns related to FBDs and food safety, food handling practices, and type of information sources used about food safety were collected. Among the 416 enrolled DFHs (response rate 86.1%), only 3 out of 10 (32.2%) correctly answered all four knowledge statements about FBDs. More than one-third did not wash their hands after preparing raw foods (34.4%) and handling potentially contaminated raw materials (36.3%). Overall, less than half (42.1%) of the sample reported adhering to hand hygiene on all the proposed occasions. About half (48.8%) of the sample defrosted food at room temperature, whilst only one-third (34.9%) appropriately defrosted food in the fridge. Almost one-third (29.8%) of the sample improperly stored leftovers in the refrigerator within two hours. The study findings highlighted the need for public health professionals and regulatory authorities to focus their information campaigns on occasions for hand hygiene, how to store leftovers safely and methods for defrosting food to raise awareness and encourage DFHs to modify unsafe practices during food handling.