‘Have you seen the state of their..?’: kitchen hygiene, farm

biosecurity and the need for good quality social scientific research

Anne Murcott

Special Professor University of Nottingham

‘have you seen the state of their...’

fridge

trays of pig swill

baby’s feeding bottle

microwave oven

‘have you seen the state of their...’

path between the turkey

shed and processing plant

café’s kitchen sink

milking parlour...

‘have you seen the state of their...’

house officer’s tie

operating theatre B

the floor in the corner of the

ward...

kitchen hygiene, farm biosecurity

visible and invisible dirt

cleanliness and contamination

microbiology, toxicology

hygiene, safety, biosecurity

H591, E. Sakazakii, C. diff.

purity and pollution

all amenable to some form of social

scientific investigation

kitchen hygiene, farm biosecurity

just a thought...

isn’t there a gap?

the need for good quality social scientific research

not simply ‘data needs’, also need for social scientific imagination & new research by:-

(a) using all kinds of sources as spurs to imaginative thought

(b) going beyond conventional wisdoms to complicate common sense understandings

(c) building on existing research – including beyond food

spurs to imaginative thought...

'Death and squalor' filmed at foot and mouth farmMartin WainwrightThe Guardian Thursday May 9, 2002

Takeaway cutlery and plastic wrapping were found in a piggery's trays of swill which had supposedly been heated almost to boiling point for two hours, a court heard yesterday.

Graphic footage of the debris, piped to pens from a central processor at the farm where foot and mouth was first found last year, was shown to the trial at Bedlington magistrates court in Northumberland.

spurs to imaginative thought...

Slap-dash errors and shoddy behaviour by staff at the Bernard Matthews factory at the centre of the bird flu outbreak have been criticised by two official inquiries. The reports by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, come exactly a fortnight to the day when the potentially lethal strain of H5N1 virus was confirmed in a turkey shed on the company's farm at Holton.

Eastern Daily Press February 17 2007

spurs to imaginative thought...

Ruth Watkins, Clinical Virologist, interviewed by Robin Lustig ‘World Tonight’ BBC Radio 4 Feb 12 2007

Raised question about workers’ standards of hygiene and associated practices such as shoe cleaning, washing that are aimed at biosecurity

BBC Radio Radio 4 Home

SynopsisEddie is relief milking at Brookfield and is very happy in

his work. He puts Ruth’s mind at rest – he’s up to speed on all their procedures and paying attention to the hygiene routines. Ruth joins him for a while.

(emphasis added)

spurs to imaginative thought...

‘It was very clear that the term non-sterile carries with it very strong negative associations and these included: dirty, unclean, contaminated, bacteria, germs, not sealed, infections, getting sick or ill, unsafe and “likely to be” more than “potentially harmful”’ p.37

COI & FSA (2006) Powdered Infant Formula Qualitative Research http://www.food.gov.uk/science/surveys/infantformula

going beyond conventional wisdoms

complicating common sense understandings“explore parents and health care professionals

understanding of the term non-sterile” (absent apostrophes in the original)

market research work provides list of synonyms occurring in focus groups

their conclusion serves as social scientist’s (eg social anthropologist, sociologist, psychologist) starting point

going beyond conventional wisdoms

nature of lay theories of cleanliness/dirt

routine everyday practicesany variation under varying circumstances (visiting infant,

care of very elderly, adult with compromised immune system)

generational differences

mixed methods – participant observation, CCTV/still photography, interviewing, inventories of cleaning materials/purchase, attitude measurement

NB Martens in Cox & Campkin (eds) 2007

deficiencies of the ‘deficit model’

studying people’s food safety behaviour in the home

compares findings on kitchen practices with ideal activities which would keep cross contamination to a minimum

conclusion comments on the ‘unfortunate’ extent to which people fail to measure up to those ideals

deficiencies of the ‘deficit model’

studying practices and attitudes to herd management

compares herdsmen and women’s responses with professional veterinary viewpoints

a poor fit is deplored, finding the former wanting

deficiencies of the ‘deficit model’

conclusions are value judgements – report writing versions of ‘have you seen the state of their...?’

horror, regret, disappointment etc may be understandable reactions but they are no substitute for adequate social scientific analyses and conclusions.

building on existing research – including beyond food

...beliefs and practices affecting the safety of food itself are remarkably under-researched

chapter on beliefs & practices about food and health

Mennell, Murcott & van Otterloo 1992:47

building on existing research – including beyond food

kitchen practices – domestic and commercial

cleaning practices – house, personal, laundry

conceptions of clean/dirty, use of implements (sharing toothbrushes, cloths cleaning floor & then table, washing between handling raw meat & preparing salad)

STS – lay (public) understandings of science

sociology of health & illness

building on existing research – including beyond food

turkey farm workers’ hygiene, shoe cleaning etc

under what circumstances are corners normally cut, how is work organised, incentives/disincentives, surveillance procedures, employee turnover

studying farm work as work – sociology of work & occupations, industrial sociology (Theo Nichols)

normal deviance: speeding, small scale pilfering from employer/shoplifting/smuggling – criminology

kitchen hygiene, farm biosecurity

just a thought...

isn’t there a gap?

are agencies failing to benefit from decent social

scientific research?

are social scientists missing funding

opportunities?

acknowledgements

grateful thanks to Brigitte Nerlich and Nelya Koteyko at University of Nottingham and Lydia Martens of Keele University for providing copies of their work

Clostridium difficile

methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus