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Updated: Jun 6, 2026

Assessment of Social Transmission of Food Preferences Behaviors
Published on: January 25, 2018
Predicting intentions to adopt safe home food handling practices. Applying the theory of planned behavior
Michael A Shapiro1, Norman Porticella, L Crystal Jiang
1Department of Communication, 319 Kennedy Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. mas29@cornell.edu
Abstract:
While most home cooks know about safe home food handling procedures, compliance is generally low and has not been much improved by campaigns. Foodborne disease is a common cause of illness, hospitalization and even death, and many of these illnesses are caused by unsafe home food practices. Using the theory of planned behavior as a model, survey data were analyzed. Perceived behavioral control was the strongest predictor of behavioral intentions for both hand washing and food thermometer use. Subjective norm was the next strongest predictor for thermometer use, while attitude towards the behavior was the next strongest predictor for hand washing. This is consistent with earlier focus group results for thermometer use and suggests some possible strategies for designing future home food safety messages.
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