Food Safety Education Challenges and Opportunities in Virginia's Food Recovery Organizations

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.