The aim of this study was to utilise the comprehensive food-safety knowledge instrument
developed by Byrd-Bredbenner et al. (2007a) to compare the food hygiene knowledge
across a population of high school and university aged students. As mentioned, younger
age groups are most at risk for inappropriate food handling behaviours and
consequently foodborne disease. Byrd-Bredbenner et al. (2007b) found that young adults
aged 17-19 had the lowest food safety knowledge; however, very few studies have
investigated the food hygiene knowledge of children or adolescents. The questionnaire
contains five scales which cover key food safety concepts. These include cross-
contamination and disinfection procedures; safe times/temperatures for cooking/storing
foods; groups at greatest risk for foodborne disease; foods that increase the risk of
foodborne disease; and foodborne pathogens. This questionnaire has been shown to have
good reliability (r 1⁄4 0.92) and validity, and is appropriate to use with a wide range of ages
from adolescent to adults. This study is the first to apply the knowledge instrument in an
Australian population. Understanding the baseline knowledge in this population is an
important first step at developing effective interventions for food safety.