BCIT Environmental Public Health Journal
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209 research outputs found
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Comparison of restaurant inspection report results and its corresponding star ratings on Yelp and Google Reviews
Get PDFBackground: In the current culture of dining-out, there is a greater emphasis on the overall dining experience at restaurants and less of a concern regarding food safety. The public often relies on consumer-generated review websites, such as Yelp and Google Reviews, to decide on where to eat. Each restaurant is often rated out of 5-stars based on factors such as customer service and food quality. The public perceives a restaurant with a 1-star rating poorly, whereas a restaurant with a 5-star rating is seen as excellent. Moreover, the aspect of food safety is determined by Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) who conduct inspections and assign hazard ratings to restaurants, which describe them as a low, moderate, or high-risk food premises. These inspection report results can be disseminated to the public online or through a placard system by the health authority. Currently, in most cities, there is no linkage or display of inspection report results on consumer-generated review websites. Methods: Secondary data was collected from publicly available online sources: Fraser Health’s restaurant inspection reports and two consumer-generated restaurant review websites – Yelp and Google Reviews. The author analyzed 170 randomly selected restaurants from the three most populous cities under Fraser Health’s jurisdiction (British Columbia, Canada): Surrey, Burnaby, and Abbotsford. Only independent restaurants and their routine inspection reports were considered in this study. The following data was obtained from each of the restaurant’s available routine inspection reports: current hazard rating, the average hazard score, and total number of critical violations (CVs). These variables were then compared to the current star rating found on Yelp and Google Reviews. Results: A total of six statistical analyses were conducted: two chi-square tests and four correlational analyses. When comparing the current hazard rating of the restaurant and their current star rating using chi-square tests, p = 0.0855 for Yelp and p = 0.0739 for Google Reviews. Furthermore, in all four correlational analyses, a negative linear relationship was observed, but only three resulted in statistically significant results. When comparing the average hazard score of the restaurant’s routine inspections and their current star rating, p = 0.0591 for Yelp (power = 47.21%) and p = 0.0000 for Google Reviews (power = 99.97%). When comparing the restaurant’s total CVs from routine inspections and their current star rating, p = 0.0001 for Yelp (power = 97.29%) and p = 0.0000 for Google Reviews (power = 100%). Conclusions: The findings of this study demonstrated that prescribed food safety evaluations largely align with the customer perception of restaurants. Although three out of six statistical tests resulted in statistically significant results, overall, it appears that restaurants with a higher star rating have lower number of CVs and lower average hazard scores. Even though this ideal relationship was established, the importance of safe food handling practices and serving safe food to the public should not be overlooked. Consumer-generated restaurant review websites are an excellent avenue to promote food safety within the overall culture of dining-out at restaurants
Individual emergency preparedness survey among Canadians in Lower Mainland, BC
Get PDFBackground: BC residents are prone to natural disasters and emergencies such as earthquakes and prolonged power outage due to severe weather and flooding. To minimize and mitigate the impacts, individuals should prepare in advance for any potential emergencies. There are studies showing only half of the Canadians, in general, are well prepared. Concrete evidence of factors affecting individual’s emergency preparedness are not clear. Therefore, this research study aims to investigate the association between BC residents’ emergency preparedness level and demographic/socio-economic factors. Methods: Housed on SurveyMonkey, the online self-administered survey was distributed via Facebook and Reddit to survey local BC residents. The survey was posted on sub-groups based on topic-relevance and geographic areas that are located within Lower Mainland. The sampling period is approximately one month, which the results were analyzed by the NCSS program. Results: Overall, less than half (41%) of the participants reported to have an emergency kit at home. The chi-square test results show that two factors, language (p=0.025) and status of occupancy (p=0.048) are significantly associated with level of emergency preparedness. Conclusion: There are significant associations between level of emergency preparedness and demographic factors - language barrier and status of occupancy. People who do not use English as their primary language found to be less prepared to those who use English as their primary language. Renters, as compared to homeowners, found to be less prepared as well. This serves as supporting data and evidence to transit these findings to promote emergency readiness among residents in Metro Vancouver.
 
Is this too ugly for you? an evaluation of knowledge, attitude and practice in British Columbian residents regarding ugly produce and food waste
Get PDFBackground: Globally 1.3 billion tonnes of food are wasted every year equating to approximately 750 billion US dollars (1). In Canada it has been estimated that $31 billion of food is wasted annually (2). This amount can easily be used to feed hundreds of thousands of undernourished people across the world. Food wastage can occur at every level of the food supply chain. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the food waste generated by residents of British Columbia, Canada. The study aimed to identify the general knowledge regarding food waste and ugly produce, the attitudes of the public towards food waste, and the general practices of waste disposal. Methods: A self-administered electronic survey created on Survey Monkey Canada was distributed on various social media platforms over a two-week period in January 2020. The survey contained questions that resulted in a score for knowledge of food waste, attitude towards food waste and the waste reduction practices of British Columbian residents. Chi square and correlational analyses were performed using the statistical package NCSS. Results: 96 respondents met the inclusion criteria and completed the survey. Many participants received a medium score for knowledge (N=67) and possessed a positive attitude (N=71) towards food waste. There was an even distribution between good and fair practice level (N=49 and N=46). There was no association between level of food waste knowledge and demographic categories except for age (p=0.025). Younger participants were less knowledgeable. Between practice and demographic variables, no statistically significant associations were found. The results for attitude were determined to be non-statistically significant for age, gender and experience working in the food industry while there was a statistically significant association between attitude and an individual’s education level (p = 0.008). Those with higher levels of education had a more positive attitude. No correlation was determined between knowledge and practice indicating that there is no influence of knowledge on practice and vice versa. The study found that there is a positive correlation (p = 0.0004 and r = 0.3542) between attitude and practice indicating that these two variables influence each other. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the population in B.C. who responded to the survey has adequate knowledge, a positive attitude and moderate practice behaviours regarding food waste. Younger individuals were less knowledgeable about food waste and the more educated one is, the more positive their attitude towards food is. The study also indicated that positive attitudes translated into better practice. These results are only a starting point in determining the causes for food loss and waste in B.C as it reveals the need for more local initiatives to bring everyone to start adopting food waste reduction strategies.
 
The perceived health effects of e-cigarette use among adult smokers
Get PDFBackground: Vaping and e-cigarettes have been an epidemic among youths in recent years. In addition, as of April 2020, there has been hundreds of vaping related illnesses causing fatalities. As such there has been increased coverage by media and the government in regard to reporting vaping-related dangers and implementing regulatory changes such as bans. These actions could deter the target population from engaging in vaping – tobacco users. Research has shown that e-cigarettes are significantly less toxic relative to tobacco and that it could be more effective as a cessation treatment relative to nicotine gums or patches. This study surveyed current perceptions of Canadians with regards to vaping in order to determine if certain groups (i.e. varying ages, smoking status) hold different opinions in terms of harm, health benefits, and support for stricter e-cigarette regulations. Methods: Self-administered online surveys created on Survey Monkey were distributed to Canadians via online platforms Reddit and Facebook. The survey assessed opinions and perceptions of Canadians through multiple choice questions and were collected over a three week period. Results: This study received 157 respondents the majority of which were under 35 (73.08%) and from British Columbia (65.38%). Thirteen chi-square tests were performed comparing group variables (age, smoking status, and awareness of vaping related news) to perception variables (perceived harm, health benefits, safety). There was no association found between age and the tested perception variables. Several associations were found where e-cigarette users viewed e-cigarettes more favourably relative to tobacco users and non-users based on chi-square results. Chi-square associations between media awareness and harm perceptions could not be established due to a small sample size (n< 30). Conclusion: The results indicated that there are associations with e-cigarette perceptions and a person’s smoking status. This may be an indication that there is possible misinformation between groups when it comes to evaluating objective health effects of e-cigarettes. Non-users and a percentage of tobacco users seem to overstat
The presence of pesticide residue in farmer market produce: thiabendazole residues in various produce sold at local farmers’ markets
Get PDFBackground: Thiabendazole is a pesticide that is mainly used after harvesting and directly applied to produce such as citrus fruits, apples, pears, bananas, mangos, corn, carrots and potatoes in the form of a spray or dip. The most common and most likely route of exposure to pesticide for the average person is through their diet. Studies have shown that the health risk of regular consumption of pesticide residue through produce is linked with disruption to various functions in the body, such as reproductive, developmental and hormone irregularity. The following study tests whether fruits and vegetables sold at farmers markets contain Thiabendazole and if they are below the acceptable Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) set by Health Canada. Methods: A QuEChERS method and solid phase extraction was used to recover Thiabendazole from various fruits and vegetables. The gas chromatography was used to analyze all samples and a calibration curve was produced to identify the concentration of Thiabendazole. Results: Thiabendazole was detected in all of the citrus fruit samples, but was below detectable limits for all other fruits and vegetables. All Thiabendazole levels were below the Maximum Residue Level allowed by Health Canada. Conclusion: The various fruits and vegetables analyzed are all below the MRL, with only the citrus fruits having detectable concentrations. However, since the citrus fruits were imported, further studies are required on different pesticide compounds to determine if locally grown produce meet the MRL for other pesticide compounds.
 
Adequacy of hand washing apples: an ATP analysis
Get PDFBackground: Foodborne illnesses linked to fresh produce has been on the rise in recent years. This increase in illnesses pose a massive burden to the healthcare system. One way to prevent this is through educating the public the importance of handwashing produce. There are many studies that have tested ways of washing and sanitizing fresh produce to reduce surface pathogens. However the average consumer mainly hand washes produce before consuming it. Thus this study intends to test the efficacy of hand washing by testing surface ATP on apples before and after they have been washed. Methods: Apples were purchased from the bulk section of a super market. ATP swabs were used to test the concentration of ATP on the surface of the apples. The values were recorded. All the apples were hand washed under running tap water for 15 seconds and the surface ATP concentration were obtained and recorded. The values were then compared to draw a conclusion. Results: The results show that there is statistically significant reduction in surface ATP values on apples after washing them (mean ATP value of 33.2) compared to before washing them (mean ATP value of 116.67). The p-value obtained was 0.00033 when α = 0.05. Conclusion: This study was able to conclude that there was a significant reduction in surface ATP values following handwashing of the apples. There was an observed 60% reduction in the mean values of ATP of before and after hand washing. In conclusion, hand washing apples do provide an adequate reduction of surface ATP values thus attaining surface cleanliness.
 
Did anyone get sick this weekend? determining the effectiveness of using social media posts for public health surveillance
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Background Recreational water illnesses are not as well known as food borne illnesses in the media. There are several pathogens associated with ingesting surface water including Giardia, Cryptosporidium, and Toxoplasmosis. The use of technology for public health surveillance is also little known to the public and can provide much insight into other illnesses on social media not otherwise reported to public health and medical professionals. Illnesses on social media could represent a portion of unreported cases. These cases could be found on social media as a popular outlet for individual expression. Methods Social media posts were found using a variety of keywords including symptoms of significant waterborne illnesses and terms associated with human and environmental contamination. Social media posts were collected from forums and popular social media platforms such as reddit. The posts were then correlated with beach water quality data for a sampling site as geographically close to a case location as possible. Results Social media and water quality data collected from the Columbia river region were correlated. The correlation coefficient of 0.2335 indicates that there is no correlation between social media posts and beach water quality data. Numerous limitations may have impacted the correlation coefficient. Keywords associated with symptoms were more effective in obtaining quality threads and posts compared to other terms. Conclusions Correlating social media posts to water quality data in the Columbia river region does not provide statistically significant results. Manual gathering of social media data for public health surveillance is found to be inefficient and impractical. Further study is required in order to determine the effectiveness of using social media for public health data gathering. It remains to be seen whether correlating posts about illness on social media to water quality data is an effective method of surveillance for public health.
 
Evaluating the effects of using plastic, silicone, and glass on time of sous vide cooking of gravy
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Background: Sous vide cooking is popular method of cooking involving a water bath with immersion circulator or a steam convection oven. This process is also known as low-temperature long-time method (LTLT), where food is held at a lower temperature over extended time for cooking (1). Plastic is the more commonly used medium with sous vide cooking. Glass and silicone are an environmentally alternative to plastic, since they are reusable mediums. These alternative mediums have not been studied and may affect the time to reach pasteurization. The purpose of this experiment is to determine how plastic, silicone, and glass influence time in sous vide cooking of gravy to 56.5°C. Methods: Four of each medium: plastic, silicone, and glass containing 500 mL of gravy with SmartButton data loggers at 4°C were introduced into a 56.5 °C water bath for 150 minutes. The data loggers recorded the temperature at one minute intervals. The data was used to run a One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to analyze if there were any statistically significant differences between the three mediums and time, and a Scheffe’s test to compare the mean time of each of the mediums. Results: There was a difference in time of sous vide cooking for gravy at 56.5°C between the mediums: plastic, glass, silicone. The p-value was 0.00, therefore rejecting Ho and accepting there is a difference in time of sous vide cooking gravy at 56.5°C between the different mediums: plastic, glass, silicone. Comparing the mediums among each other, it showed that there was a difference between glass and silicone, glass and plastic and no significant difference between plastic and silicone medium. Conclusion: The results indicate that there is a statistically significant difference in time that it took for gravy to reach 56.5°C between the mediums: plastic, silicone, and glass. The mean time for each medium to reach 56.5°C differed; 65 minutes for plastic, 68 minutes for silicone, and 129 minutes for glass. This shows that a more environmentally friendly alternative to plastic sous vide pouches can be used. Silicone pouches show to be the best alternative, least compromising of the come-up and pasteurization time. If sous vide users opt to use glass, the come-up time almost doubles in time.
 
Is that food RTE? thoroughness of cooking instructions on frozen breaded chicken products and frozen microwavable entrees
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Background: Rates of foodborne illness linked to consumers misinterpreting, or lack of proper cooking instructions on frozen food products continue to rise. With many recalls and outbreaks in the recent years surrounding frozen breaded chicken (FBC) products due to consumers not adequately cooking products and in turn becoming ill. However, it is not just frozen breaded chicken to blame, frozen microwavable entrees have also contributed to this problem. Therefore, the purpose of this project was to determine what was actually being displayed on the packaging of these frozen foods. Identifying whether or not frozen food products have clear, specific and consistent cooking instructions for the consumers is critical in identifying the risk of cooking and eating these foods. Methods: Secondary data was obtained from the British Columbia Centers for Disease Control (BCCDC) of cooking instructions on FBC packaging, and primary data was collected through visiting grocery stores in the Metro Vancouver area by surveying cooking instructions on frozen microwavable entrees packaging. Four categories of data were assessed, 2008 and 2018 raw FBC products, 2018 cooked FBC, and 2019 frozen microwavable entrees. Parameters such as inclusion of internal cooking temperature, thermometer usage, microwave instructions, and additional food safety handling was gathered. Chi-square tests were used to analyze the results with the statistical software NCSS12. Results: Of all categories surveyed 87.1% (n=122) said to cook the product to a minimum of 74°C, and 12.9% (n=18) did not state anything. 2018 raw FBC always stated an internal cooking temperature (100%), whereas 58% of the 2008 raw FBC stated an internal temperature and 89% of both the 2019 frozen entrees and 2018 cooked FBC did. Out of all 140 products surveyed across categories only 8% stated to use a thermometer when cooking to ensure food has reached proper internal temperature. The frequency of categories to display food safety was as follows, the 2018 raw FBC (82%) and the 2008 raw FBC (79%), followed by the 2019 frozen entrees (42%) and the 2018 cooked FBC (21%). For the microwave instructions the frozen entrees almost always stated this (81%), whereas the 2008 and 2018 raw FBC both never stated to use a microwave (0%). There was a significant association between products and the inclusion of the statement of internal cooking temperature and thermometer usage. This was based on the food product category itself, frozen breaded chicken or frozen entrees, or based on manufacturer of the product. Conclusions: It was evident that the major gap lies in the consistency of instructions. Almost every manufacturer had their cooking instructions presented differently, which could in turn confuse the consumer. Instructions also rarely stated to use a thermometer to check the internal temperature, although almost always stated a specific temperature to cook to. A small portion of manufactures are diligent about displaying all necessary information to the consumer such as, Kraft, Conagra foods, and Olymel which adequately met all parameters assessed. In order to fix the gaps of inconsistency of instructions this information can be used as educational tools by the BCCDC to inform customers on what to look for in cooking instructions of frozen
 
Label perception of frozen ready-to-eat products and frozen not-ready-to-eat product
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Background: Frozen meals are popularized in recent years due to their ease of preparation. This convenience factor greatly benefits busy workers who simply lack the time to cook a full meal. However, the risk of misidentifying these frozen products as cooked when they are in fact, raw, can lead to devastating consequences. This is important especially when the products are improperly prepared and undercooked. Some significant examples in recent years includes the Salmonella cases associated with frozen raw breaded chicken. These cases are partly due to the inadequate cooking of the product, as a result of misidentifying them as cooked even though they are raw. The purpose of this project is to determine how well the public can determine if a frozen product is cooked or raw based on the front side of the packaging, which is the first visuals that will be presented to the consumers in store. Methods: An electronic survey was conducted for Canadian residents to determine whether they can accurately interpret if a product is cooked or raw based on the front packaging. The survey also determines if the respondent’s age, gender, average number of supermarket visits in a week, and level of education will affect the accuracy of their interpretations. The survey was created and hosted online with SurveyMonkey, and distributed out in Reddit. The results are analyzed using the statistical software, NCSS 12. Results: Chi-square tests indicated no significant difference between the demographics groups and the accuracy of the label interpretations by the respondents. Five different products; chicken pot pie, fish fillets, breaded chicken wings, poutine bites, and tourtiere pie, were chosen for identification, each with their own label statements, respectively; “cook thoroughly”, “uncooked”, “fully cooked”, “heat thoroughly” and one with no label statement. The fish fillets, poutine bites and the tourtiere pie had the most varied answers from the respondents. The poutine bites and tourtiere pie had the majority of the respondents selecting the wrong answer or being unsure. The fish fillets had the majority choosing the correct answer, but given the simplicity of the label “uncooked”, it was surprising that only 45% of the respondents chose “require additional cooking”. Additionally, a few of the open ended comments from respondents indicate some desire for labels clarity in regards to fonts and color on the packaging, as well as having clear, standardized statements that clearly identifies the products as cooked or raw. However, there are some comments that indicate the current labels are adequate, and some comments mentioning about labelling on the back of the box. Conclusion: Based on the results of the study, it would appear that the demographic groups selected have no effect on the accuracy of label identifications of frozen products. The study also indicates that there is preference from the public to favours clear and straightforward labelling statements. The study identifies potential problems with some ambiguity in the label statements (or lack of label statements), and some potential issues with the noticeability of the statements to the consumers.