Influence of the Fight BAC! food safety campaign on an urban Latino population in Connecticut.

Objective: To assess the coverage and consumer satisfaction with the Fight BAC! campaign and to evaluate the influence of the campaign on food safety knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among a predominantly Latino population living in inner-city Hartford, Connecticut.

Design: A cross-sectional pre- and post-survey was administered to 500 Latino consumers in either English or Spanish. It included 30 food safety-related questions and information on the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of participants.

Setting And Participants: Respondents were selected from Latino households, with at least one child 12 years old or under, located in 5 predominantly Latino neighborhoods in inner-city Hartford.

Intervention: Fight BAC! media campaign.

Results: Seventy-three percent of respondents were exposed to at least one campaign media item and were highly satisfied with it. Recognition of the Fight BAC! logo increased from 10% to 42% between surveys (P <.001). Individuals exposed to the campaign were more likely to have a food safety knowledge score of at least 2 of a possible 4 compared with unexposed counterparts (odds ratio = 3.54; 95% CI 1.74-7.18; P <.001). They were also more likely to report defrosting meats in the refrigerator (14% vs 7%; P =.01). There was a dose-response association between the degree of campaign exposure and awareness of the term "cross-contamination."

Conclusion And Implications: Social marketing campaigns that take advantage of multiple culturally relevant media channels are likely to improve food safety awareness and bring about changes in food safety knowledge and attitudes among Latino consumers.