Young people are not sufficiently aware of food safety risks and good hygiene practices, according to a food microbiologist involved in producing an educational package for primary schools.
Their lack of knowledge was exposing themselves and others to the consequences of foodborne infection, said Ms Edel Jones of BFL Consultants, based in Co Wicklow. The right message was beginning to get through but there was still a mountain to overcome, she added.
The hygiene activity pack aimed at fifth and sixth-class pupils was produced to mark Hygiene Week, which is promoted by the independent quality assurance body Excellence Ireland, and supported by the manufacturers of Domestos hygiene products. It runs until May 19th.
Her evaluation of hygiene awareness suggested, she said, "a need for hygiene to be part of the general curriculum from an early stage and not just part of domestic science".
A survey in Britain suggesting 16 per cent of cases arise in the home was notable, she said. "We tend to blame hotels and restaurants. But if you are not going to get good example at home, you are not going to take the message on board."
Scaling the mountain, Ms Jones said, would require broad-based messages, particularly for those living away, or about to move, from home. "It's as basic as learning how to cook food; how to handle it, how to store it. Then there are the basics of good hand-washing and the need to segregate raw and cooked meats."
With cleaning agents, she said, the best advice was to use them when or where needed but not indiscriminately. On whether overuse of chemicals to control microbes was impairing immune systems and leading to increases in allergies and asthma, she said scientists were divided. "It's a bit like mobile phones. It's hard to know where the balance lies."
That said, the environment still contained a lot of pathogens and new types were emerging all the time. E.coli O157 was unknown 10 years ago. Those who suggested that long ago people were not exposed to such microbes had to acknowledge life expectancy was considerably lower then, she added.
A balanced approach should not seek sterility but implement the basic advice, and be aware that food-borne illness is increasing due to factors such as new pathogens; eating out more and food travelling large distances. The big risks were cross-contamination and inadequate cooking.
Earlier this year the Food Safety Authority of Ireland announced its biggest promotion, which targeted young people with the cartoon characters Sam and Ella. It extended its programme to include second-level pupils. FSAI chief executive Dr Patrick Wall is concerned at indications that young people were not sufficiently trained in food safety. With many young people working in food outlets and in the catering industry, such education had, he said, become of paramount importance.
The winners of a "hygiene rap" competition for primary schools, who are being featured this week on 2FM's Breakfast Show, are: fifth class, Glensilly National School, Letterkenny, Co Donegal; fifth class, Our Lady of Good Counsel Boys National School, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin; fourth, fifth and sixth classes, Scoil Realt na Mara, Ballycotton, Midleton, Co Cork; fourth class, Scoil Rois, Taylor's Hill, Galway, and fifth class, Our Lady of Good Counsel Girls' National School, Johnstown, Killiney, Co Dublin.
