There were an estimated 11.1% of households experiencing food insecurity in the U.S. in 2018, meaning that they did not have the adequate resources to access safe, nutritious food at some point in the year. In order to support people experiencing food insecurity and related-hunger, national organizations, regional food banks, and local programs operate to recover, organize, and distribute the food available to them. Food recovery work falls into a regulatory grey-area. Should anyone consuming donated food become ill, the food handlers would not be criminally or civilly liable if they distributed it in good faith. There are no federal regulations covering food handling in food recovery, though some states do have such regulations. As a result, safe food handling guidance, education, and training is offered through organized networks and Cooperative Extension. Participating in educational programs increases safe food handling knowledge, however volunteers and employees in food recovery organizations have also been observed to unsafely handle food. Additionally, these resources can be limited in their scope and some are only accessible through membership in pre-existing networks such as Feeding America. The purpose of this work is to further document how food is handled in food recovery and compliment that by collecting the experiences and perceptions of these food handlers as well as Cooperative Extension educators who support them. This work utilized a mixed-methods approach to quantify behaviors and experiences, which compliments qualitatively collected contextual information. Food handlers serving with a university-based student food recovery program, which works to distribute unserved and unsold food from on-campus dining centers, were observed improperly washing their hands, inconsistently keeping records, and using unclean or otherwise contaminated equipment. These behaviors could be addressed through rolespecific education representing their unique operations. Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) educators were used as a case study to measure their experiences when supporting food recovery, with 41% of respondents having previously supporting an organization or program. Topics covered ranged from safe food handling, network leadership, financial planning, and farming/gardening. VCE educators expressed a sense of altruism when supporting food recovery organizations, but also experienced challenges such as not having enough time to fully engage or the organization not having adequate equipment to enact their support. VCE educators who had not previously supported these organizations expressed wanting to learn more about food recovery work and how VCE can support them. Employees of food banks believe current food safety education could be improved by offering role-specific information in customizable formats so the food handlers can translate their knowledge into action. Future education should also focus on problemsolving, so food handlers feel empowered to react to expected challenges. Lastly, to account for challenges experienced while conducting this research, future projects within the context of food recovery should consider the limited time available of potential participants, offer compensation for their participation, and maximize pre-existing networks when connecting with them. / Doctor of Philosophy / There were an estimated 11.1% of households experiencing food insecurity in the U.S. in 2018, meaning that they did not have the adequate resources to access safe, nutritious food at some point in the past year. In order to support people experiencing food insecurity and related-hunger, national organizations, regional food banks, and local programs operate to recover, organize, and distribute the food available to them. Food recovery work falls into a regulatory grey-area. Food handlers are not criminally or civilly liable should anyone become ill as a result of consuming food when it is donated in good faith, and guidance in the form of food handling regulations for food recovery varies from state-to-state and is not addressed federally. As a result, safe food handling education and training is offered through organized networks and Cooperative Extension. Participating in educational programs increases safe food handling knowledge, however volunteers and employees in food recovery organizations have also been observed to unsafely handle food. Additionally, these resources can be limited in their scope with some only accessible through membership in pre-existing networks. The purpose of this work is to further document how food is handled in food recovery, which will complement the collection of experiences and perceptions of food handlers and Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) educators who support them. Volunteers serving with a university-based student food recovery program, which works to distribute unserved and unsold food from their on-campus dining centers, exhibited a combination of safe and unsafe food handling behaviors which could be addressed through role-specific education representing their unique operations. VCE educators expressed a sense of altruism when supporting food recovery organizations across a range of topics, however they also expressed wanting to know more about their operations and how VCE can support them. Employees of food banks believe current food safety education could be improved by offering role-specific information in a variety of formats paired so the food handlers can translate their knowledge into action. Lastly, to account for challenges experienced while conducting this research, future projects within the context of food recovery should consider limited time potential participants have to serve as well as maximize preexisting networks when recruiting them.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/109093 |
| Date | 09 September 2020 |
| Creators | Schonberger, H. Lester |
| Contributors | Food Science and Technology, Boyer, Renee R., Misyak, Sarah A., Chase, Melissa W., Drape, Tiffany A. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Coverage | Virginia, United States |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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