SafeConsumE: Safer food through changed consumer behavior

SafeConsume is a project focused on “Sustainable Food Safety through consumer’s behavioral change”. The ultimate goal of the project is the mitigation of disease burden related to preventable food borne diseases and the reduction of world food waste.

In this context, Safe Consume project aims at changing consumers behavior, in all age groups and especially in adolescents, in all participating countries, therefore reducing citizens exposure to hazards via increasing their awareness on food safety & hygiene including: the development and implementation of effective and easy-to-use, user friendly educational tools and products, the designing of appropriate consumer-focused communication strategies, the dissemination of educational tools for various population groups, especially for adolescents, and generally in planning inclusive food safety policies.

The National School of Public Health (NSPH-ESDY) from May 2017 until May 2019 and the Dept. of Public Health Policy, School of Public Health, University of West Attica (UNIWA) thereafter, participates in “SafeConsume” project, contributes to all work packages and is directly involved in 3 packages. In particular, ESDY/UNIWA is actively engaged in the following project tasks: Development of specific HACCP survey modules for each participating country, health promotion needs assessment for high school students on food safety and hygiene, development of appropriate learning objectives and joint educational material for all participating countries, adaptation and translation of, mainly digitally available, educational resources for Greek high schools and higher academic institutes, pilot testing by teachers and students in schools in the Attica area, establishment of a forum for the dissemination of the educational resource, coordination of dissemination activities in the Greek educational community, dissemination and sustainability of the educational materials. The project is ongoing.

Project Τitle: SafeConsume – Safer food through changed consumer behavior

Project Duration: 1^st of May 2017– 30 April 2022

Project URL:  http://safeconsume.eu/

Project Framework & Funding:
EU Horizon 2020  – SFS – 2016 – 2017: Project no. 727580
Funding: € 9.5 million/ UNIWA Budget: 39.375,00€

Principal Investigator (UNIWA):  Prof. Kyriakoula Merakou, E-mail: kmerakou@uniwa.gr, Tel: 30-2132010254

Consortium – Partners:

32 partners (researchers, market actors, authorities, NGOs) from 14 countries

 
Research Publications / Results / Patents

1. Langsrud S, Sørheim O, Skuland SE, Almli VL, Jensen MR, Grøvlen MS, et al. (2020) Cooking chicken at home: Common or recommended approaches to judge doneness may not assure sufficient inactivation of pathogens. PLoS ONE 15(4): e0230928. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0230928
2. Eley C et al (2020). Teaching young consumers in Europe: A multicentre qualitative needs assessment with educators on food hygiene and food safety (submitted for publication).
3. Syeda R et al (2020) Young people’s views about food hygiene and food safety across Europe – A qualitative study (submitted for publication).