Consumer and the food safety certification in commercial restaurants, City of Campinas, SP

Abstract

The number of meals consumed away from home is increasing in Brazil. However, the occurrence of food-borne diseases, especially of microorganism origin in food services is a public concern. It is necessary to concentrate resources in order to generate knowledge for the creation and implementation of food safety programs. Safety certification is a powerful tool to promote consumer information and implementation of safety control measures in food companies. The objective of this study is to identify and analyze the attitudes of adult individuals from Campinas, SP in regard to safety certification in commercial restaurants, as well as identifying the association of the level of consumer microbial risk knowledge with demographic variables. In order to interview 300 individuals, a survey instrument will be elaborated. This instrument will consist of four parts: 1st) the consumer observation of safety certification in restaurants 2nd) attitude scale related to certification (Likert scale), 3rd) microbial risk knowledge scale and 4th) consumer characterization. Data will be analyzed in the software Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 17.0. The scales will be validated. Basic descriptive statistics will be calculated. Parametric and non-parametric tests will be used to compare the results among demographic variables and knowledge levels (ANOVA, test - de student, Qui-square, etc). (AU)