Performing Department
Applied Social Sciences
Non Technical Summary
Based on safety and health hazard observations in Hmong farming operations, cultural differences between Hmong and Americans may present unique food safety challenges. The current Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) training program do not address the needs for Hmong famers due to the language barriers and cultural differences. Therefore, the long-term goal of the proposed study is to develop a customized and culturally-sensitive food safety supplemental education and outreach program for Hmong farmers in southwest Missouri. Specific objectives are (1) to identify the specific food safety training and education needs and food safety challenges faced by local Hmong farmers with particular consideration of their cultural values; (2)to develop innovative, culturally sensitive, and easy to understandfood safety training supplemental materials guided by FSMAfor Hmong farmers in English and Hmong; and (3)to evaluate customized and culturally-sensitive food safety supplemental program by Hmong farmers to assess usability and potential effectiveness. We will evaluate if the specific needs of local Hmong farmers have been addressed in supplemental materials and if the developed plan is transferable to other Hmong farms with similar characteristics across the U.S. Effectiveness of the program will be evaluated based on individual interviews and surveys conducted post-implementation.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The long-term goal of the proposedpilot studyis to develop a customized and culturally-sensitive FSMA supplemental education and outreach training program for Hmong farmers in southwest Missouri. Specific objectives are:Objective (1):To identify the specific food safety training and education needs and food safety challenges faced by local Hmong farmers with particular consideration of their cultural values;Objective (2):To develop innovative, culturally sensitive, and easy to understandfood safety training supplemental materials guided by FSMAfor Hmong farmers in English and Hmong;Objective (3):To evaluate customized and culturally-sensitive food safety supplemental program by Hmong farmers to assess usability and potential effectiveness.Upon successful completion of the proposed pilot project, the team will seek for larger outreach opportunities to disseminate the food safety plan for Hmong farms with the similar characteristics across the U.S. through USDA,Department of Public Health and Human Services, and state extension agencies.
Project Methods
Objective (1):To identify the specific food safety training and education needs and food safety challenges of FSMA implementation faced by local Hmong farmers with particular consideration of their cultural values;?Sample Selection:Six senior Hmong farmers and their farms were identified and will be recruited by LU for Hmong farmers' interviews and observation.Data Collection and Analyses:Step (a): Interviews with Hmong farmersHmong farmers will be interviewed toassess the current food safety training needs. The interview questions will be developed to meet the research objectives, reviewed byadvisory board members, and pilot-tested with local Hmong farmers (n=6). Based onfeedback provided by pilot-study participants, revisions will be made to the interview questions,as appropriate. With the help of LU personnel and LU ambassador to the Hmong community, MU personnel will interview the recruited farmers one by one, at the beginning of the project, to identity their needs. LU ambassador will do the translation from English to Hmong and from Hmong to English to facilitate communication between MU investigators and the farmers. All interviews will be audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, andused for the preliminary indexing of concepts and themes.Step (b): Interviews with FSMA certified trainersFSMA certified trainers (n=3) from LU will be interviewed to identify barriers for implementing food safety trainings and develop culturally-sensitive and easy to understand/acceptable supplemental food safety training materials for Hmong farmers. Tentative questions will ask trainers to identify the most effective approach to deliver information. All interviews will be audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, andused for the preliminary indexing of concepts and themes. The findingsfrom the Hmong farmers' interview will be combined with these interviews to develop innovative, culturally-sensitive, and easy to understand supplemental food safety training materials guided by FSMA.Step (c): Observation of produce food handlingFood safety handling behavior observation will be conducted at 6 Hmong farms. Observations will occur for the following levels of food preparation mentioned in FSMA: storage, washing, preparation and processing, service, and personal hygiene behaviors of farmers. LU ambassador to the Hmong community will work with MU investigators to determine the dates of the "observation" with respective farmers and be available for translation if needed. Data collection will include: storage, temperature, handwashing of food handler, prevention of cross-contamination during preparation, storage, and packaging, etc. Investigators are aware that this form may be modified based on preliminary observation, interview results, and facility characteristics. Prior to data collection, researchers and research assistants will be trained to make sure consistency in observation and recording is assured. Inter-observer reliability will be tested using a goodness of fit test with the target of 85% or greater consistency. To minimize potential Hawthorne effect, researchers will be present at the farm for a whole day. Data collected will be analyzed by descriptive statistics to summarize the data.Objective (2):To develop innovative, culturally-sensitive, and easy to understand supplemental food safety training supplemental materials guided by FSMA for Hmong farmers in English and HmongAn outline of innovative, culturally sensitive, and easy to understand food safety training supplemental materials guided by FSMA for Hmong farmers will be developed based on the results from objective 1. Project collaborators from LU will attend meetings and contribute to the meetings with their feedback based on their experiences as FSMA certified trainers and as primary service providers of Hmong farmers. LU principal investigator will assist with developing 5 pictorial posters (one poster per module), one fact sheet, and one guide sheet to help the Hmong farmers understand and implement the 5 modules of the produce safety rule. Before finalizing the contents of the supplemental training program, a meeting will be called with the advisory board for their inputs using Zoom. Researchers will work with media experts at MU in developing the materials if needed. Supplemental materials developed in objective 2 will be used to support FSMA contents.Objective (3):To evaluate customized and culturally-sensitive food safety supplemental program by Hmong farmers to assess usability and potential effectivenessTo assess effectiveness of the customized and culturally-sensitive food safety supplemental program that meets the specific needs of local Hmong farms, it will be implemented and evaluated at local Hmong farms (Step (a)) and this pilot project will be evaluated by other stakeholders (Step (b)). LU ambassador to the Hmong community will determine the dates of on-farm trainings of the respective farmer. LU principal investigator will co-implement, with MU investigators, each training of each of the 6 farmers and provide feedback to MU investigators.Step (a) - Implementation and evaluation of the customized and culturally-sensitive food safety supplemental program at local Hmong farmsTask 1: Pre-Implementation Assessment of Food Safety Knowledge and AttitudesBefore the intervention,6 Hmong farmersidentified in Objective 1 will complete an interview to measure knowledge and attitudes related to food safety practices. LU ambassador to the Hmong community will facilitate the interviews with the farmers and translate to facilitate communication between farmers and interviewers. The questions will be developed based on thecontents of customized and culturally-sensitive FSMA supplemental training program developed in Objective 2. The instrument will be reviewed by advisory board members for content validity and pilot-tested by 3 Hmong farmers whom were not participants in the project previously. Based onresults of pilot study, revisions will be made to these questions.Task 2: ImplementationAfter the pre-implementation assessment, food safety training will be provided to6 Hmong farmersat their farms. LU principal investigator will co-implement, with MU investigators, the training of the farmers. LU ambassador to the Hmong community will facilitate and translate the training of the farmers and also facilitate the communication between the farmers and the investigators.Task 3: Post-Implementation Survey of Food Safety Knowledge and AttitudesTwo weeks after the implementation, knowledge and attitudes of6 Hmong farmerswill be collected via interviews using essentially the same instrument as the pre-implementation assessment. LU ambassador to the Hmong community will facilitate and translate the interviews and also facilitate the communication between the farmers and the interviewers.Task 4: Post-Implementation ObservationTo measure the longer-term effectiveness of the implementation, the safe food handling practices observation will be conducted one month after the implementation at6 Hmong farmsthat participated in the implementation step. LU ambassador to the Hmong community will facilitate on-farm observation and provide needed translation.Task 5: Data AnalysesPre- and post-implementation assessments will be analyzed to see if the implementation made an impact. All interviews will be audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, andused for the preliminary indexing of concepts and themes.Step (b)-Evaluation of this pilot program by FSMA certified trainers.The customized and culturally-sensitive FSMA supplemental training program will be also evaluated by LU FSMA certified trainers and LU project investigator. The researchers will share the evaluation results to show strengths and weaknesses of this project. Based on the content and feedback from the participants in Steps (a) and (b), further revision will be made.