# Presentation: 589451

## Overcoming Consumer Barriers to Healthy Food Safety  Behaviors:“Selling” Food Thermometer Use

- Overcoming Consumer Barriers to Healthy Food Safety  Behaviors:“Selling” Food Thermometer Use

- Susan Conley
- Director, Food Safety Education
- Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA

## Mission:

*To increase the use of food thermometers by parents of children under age 10 to reduce the incidence of foodborne illness*

## Phases in Campaign Development

- Phase 1: Campaign for the General Public
- Phase 2: Targeted Audience Segmentation
- Phase 3: Planning and Implementation of Targeted Campaign

## Phase 1: General Public Awareness

- Long history of encouraging food thermometer use
- Outbreaks changed the awareness -- 1993 *E. coli *O157:H7 outbreak
- Science changed the message

## Past Messages

##  Cooking Studies Show Color Not a Reliable Indicator of Safety

- Cooking by color is misleading
- 1 out of 4 hamburgers turns brown before it reaches safe temperature

## Using a food thermometer is the only

** ****reliable way to determine if food**
** ****is safety cooked**

## But, it is a “Tough Sell”

- In 1994 Hotline survey, less than 50% owned a food thermometer
- Most used it only for the Thanksgiving turkey, if at all
- Very few used it for all meats

## 1998 National Survey

- Less than 50% of American cooks owned a food thermometer
- Only 3% use it to check small items like hamburgers

## Listening to the Customer: Focus Groups Conducted

- Consumer’s food safety knowledge quite good
- Used color of meat and “intuition” to test doneness
- Knowledge and use of thermometers limited
- Less than enthusiastic about using a thermometer

## Some Barriers Existed...

## Consumer Attitudes about Food Thermometer Use

- Inconvenience -- “It’s a hassle”
- Added expense  to purchase a thermometer
- Experience -- feel not necessary -- they _know_ when food is done
- Cooking for years without ill effects

- They didn’t think they
- were guessing...

## Parents of young children are most likely to change behavior -but for their children only
Upscale cooks interested in quality foods might consider use to avoid overcooking

- Upscale cooks interested in quality foods might consider use to avoid overcooking

- Key Findings... Behavior Change is Possible

## Data Used to Develop a National Campaign

- 1998 Data told us:
- Target parents of young children
- Emphasize taste
- Easy to use everyday
- Campaign focus groups told us:
- Stress safety
- Created “ThermyTM” character

## National Campaign Launched

## Campaign Successes

- 2001 National Survey Shows:
- 60% own a food thermometer
- Up from 46% in ‘98
- 6% use a thermometer when cooking hamburgers
- Up from 3% in ‘98
- Thermometer sales
- Industry sales data show an increase in sales of thermometers

## 2001 Focus Groups

- Conducted groups with parents of children under 10
- Divided groups based on education level
- Utilized New Methods
- Provided all of the participants with materials and half with food thermometers prior to the group

## Focus Group Results

- Parents confident in ability to safely handle food at home
- Most not aware of importance of using a food thermometer
- Participants who received a food thermometer with educational materials more likely to use one

## Phase 2: Audience Segmentation

- Began work in 2001 to further segment audience -- parents of young children
- Parents are potential early adopters of this behavior
- Children are at increased risk of foodborne illness

## Goals Based on Stages of Behavior Change:

- Among parents of children under 10:
- increase *awareness* of the need to use a food thermometer
- increase *intention* to use food thermometers
- increase *sales* of food thermometers

## Goals Based on Stages of Behavior Change:

- Increase *trial usage* of food thermometers
- increase *continued regular usage* of food thermometers
- Decrease the *incidence* of foodborne illness among young children

## Immediate Focus on First Goal

- Increase awareness of the need for using food thermometers among parents of children under 10:
- by 15% by 2004
- by 60% by 2010*

- *Objective coincides with Federal *Healthy People 2010* Campaign

## Forms of Segmentation

- Demographic
- Geographic
- Psychographic
- Behavioral
- Geodemographic
- Household

- Focus Groups -- Phase 1

## Segment the Market

- Demographics
- Stages of behavior change
- Perceptions & attitudes
- WHY?
- Improves efficiency
- Improves effectiveness

## Using Commercial Models

**Incorporate the power of advanced modeling**
- technology tested and enhanced for nearly 30 years
- use of “birds of a feather” to find patterns
- use of a household-by-household insight

## Narrowing the Focus

- from *all people all the time*...
- ...to *62 distinct*
*neighborhood types*...

- ...to* ****28 ****neighborhood types*
*with concentrations of*
*children under age 10*

## Defining Sub-segments

- 28 neighborhood types into 4 distinct groups:
- demographics (educational attainment)
- lifestyles (purchase behaviors, leisure activities)
- psychographics (willingness to change)

- Boomburbs
- Heartlands

- Rural Towns
- Single Moms

## Slide 29

## Prioritizing Sub-Segments

*Use of an Allocations Matrix:*
- Number of children under age ten
- Exposure to undercooked meat products
- The quickness of new information motivating behavior changes

## Primary Target Selection

*Boomburbs* scored highest
- Implications of focusing on this target explored with the I-WheelTM planning tool

## Implications Wheel: Barriers and Bridges Identified

## Barriers & Bridges

- Barriers:
- May reach a “safety overload”
- Some who are at risk are not informed
- Message may get lost in information overload
- Bridges:
- Share ideas with friends and family
- Tend to seek more information about new things

## Target Exploration: Become Relevant to their World

- Media preferences (print, radio, TV)
- Shopping habits (groceries, home products)
- Financial behaviors (credit and debt tools)
- Attitudes and beliefs (personal ideals)
- Lifestyles (recreation, travel)
- Automobiles

## Boomburbs: Trendsetter Population

- News and information hungry
- Technology-savvy gadget lovers
- Demand high achievement for their children
- Gourmet-conscious “foodies”
- Safety conscious

## Boomburbs: Trendsetter Population

- Seeks luxury
- Above average consumers of scientific and technological entertainment
- Influencers in society -- doctors, educators, communicators, political leaders

## Boomburbs Preferences

- Magazines --
- PC Magazine, Martha Stewart Living, Money, Bon Appetit
- Radio --
- Soft Contemporary, Classic rock, News/Talk, Drive-time, NPR
- TV --
- Comedy Central, E!, Headline News, The Disney Channel

## Boomburbs Preferences

- Stores --
- Target, Pier 1 Imports, Gap for Kids, Toys R Us, Macy’s, Disney
- Household Products --
- Burglar alarm, bread machine, electric coffee grinder, Camcorder,
- Food and Drink --
- Brie cheese, Godiva, lunch kits, toaster pastries

## Wide Variety of Information Available...

- Financial Behaviors
- Attitudes and Beliefs
- Lifestyles
- Automobiles

## Where They Live

- Phoenix
- Sacramento
- Orlando
- Atlanta

- Albuquerque
- Greensboro
- Annapolis
- Tampa

## Desired Behaviors - What We Want Them To Do:

- Become willing to collect information
- Accept that it might apply to them
- Experiment with methods and tools
- Acquire food thermometers, learn to use
- Repeat the behavior every time
- Teach their children and others

## Possible Benefits to Emphasize

- Better tasting meat
- Insuring a perfect quality result every time
- Satisfaction from predictability
- Increased confidence in the cooking process

## Possible Benefits to Emphasize

- Enjoyment of using a new technology
- Satisfaction from pursuing healthier cooking that is safer for their children

## Strategies for Education

- News media stories
- Internet
- Cooking-related TV programs
- Television/film references
- Upscale grocers
- Upscale gadget retailers/catalogs
- Adult education, eg, cooking classes
- Parent-Teacher Organizations

## Phase 3: Plans for Reaching Boomburbs 

- Conduct Boomburbs observational research focus groups

## Little knowledge of thermometer  use
Viewed them as inconvenient to use
Used visual cues to decide if food is done

- Viewed them as inconvenient to use
- Used visual cues to decide if food is done

- Focus Groups Held in August

## Family tradition -- thermometers not used by role models
Don’t know how to use food thermometers
Don’t think it necessary to use them on small cuts of meat

- Don’t know how to use food thermometers
- Don’t think it necessary to use them on small cuts of meat

- Focus Groups Barriers

## Bridges to Use

- Parents concern for children’s safety
- Boomburbs interest in food quality and using technology

## Other Findings

- Don’t know visual signs are not reliable
- Web use high -- as predicted
- Get information from the media

## The 4 “P”s for Boomburbs

- Product: Use a food thermometer for everyday meals
- Price: Hassle factor and actual cost to purchase a thermometer
- Exchange hassle for safety of children

## Place: Parents of children under 10
Promotion: Messages and mechanisms we will use to reach them

- Promotion: Messages and mechanisms we will use to reach them

- The 4 “P”s for Boomburbs

## Phase 3: Plans for Targeted Campaign 

- Explore Web site changes specific to  Boomburbs
- Work with applicable media to inform Boomburbs about safety issues
- Develop PR plans and educational plans for Boomburbs
- Develop revised support materials for Boomburbs

## Plans for Targeted Campaign

- Possibly redesign the ThermyTM character to be more technical or eliminate
- Conduct pilot campaign in a specific city to test materials
- Continue collaboration with thermometer manufacturers to design appealing products

## Plans for Targeted Campaign

- Collaborate with industry to produce learning environments at grocers, colleges, etc.
- Design a plan to reach the Boomburbs children in their school environments
- Develop and install a formal tracking & evaluation process; revise objectives

## Evaluation Techniques

- Federal Government FoodNet Foodborne Illness Data
- Federal Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
- Federal Consumer Food Safety Survey
- Industry data on Thermometer sales
- Targeted Market Surveys

## Stay tuned...

- Thank You