Food Protection Trends - March/April 2023 - 163

perature for >2 h (6, 16). After one researcher independently
coded produce washing practices on all the videos, a second
researcher validated the coding.
Data analysis
Data on all videos that met the inclusion criteria were compiled
in an Excel 2021 spreadsheet (Microsoft Corporation,
Redmond, WA) and were then uploaded to R Studio version
1.4.1717 to conduct frequency tabulations, summary measures,
and statistical testing. Specifically, Pearson's χ2
or Fisher's
exact tests were conducted to evaluate differences in the
factual or nonfactual content status of the videos and specific
practices reported by posting date (prior to versus during the
COVID-19 pandemic). We also evaluated differences in the
factual versus nonfactual status and in the posting date (prior
to versus during the pandemic) by upload source (individual
bloggers versus government or other organizations). We
compared the number of comments, likes, views, and incorrect
food safety techniques reported by videos posted prior to and
during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the number of comments,
likes, and views by the factual versus nonfactual content
status. These continuous variables did not follow a normal distribution;
therefore, a Wilcoxon rank-sum test was conducted
for these comparisons. For all statistical tests conducted, results
with a P-value <0.05 were considered statistically significant.
RESULTS
Descriptive results
Of a total 100 YouTube videos analyzed, 66 were posted
during the COVID-19 pandemic (median 22 April 2020; range
17 March 2020 to 23 September 2021). The other 34 videos
were posted before the COVID-19 pandemic (median 19
February 2015; range 6 June 2008 to 9 April 2019). Of the 100
videos, 70 contained nonfactual information regarding food
safety techniques for washing fruits and vegetables or storing
produce at room temperature. Most of the videos posted were
from individual video bloggers (83%) compared to other
organizations (12%) and government agencies (5%).
Among videos posted during the COVID-19 pandemic, 55
(83%) contained nonfactual information, a percentage that
was significantly higher than seen in videos posted prior to
the pandemic (Table 1). The most commonly recommended
produce washing methods were vinegar (45.5%), salt (33.3%),
baking soda (28.8%), and soap (25.8%), as shown in Table 1.
Among these methods, significantly more videos posted during
the COVID-19 pandemic recommended using soap (25.8
versus 5.9%) and other washing methods (24.2 versus 2.9%)
compared to prior to the pandemic (Table 1). Temperature
abuse was reported only in videos posted during the pandemic.
Table 2 displays the comparison between the number of
comments, likes, views, and incorrect techniques reported
in videos during versus prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The median number of comments was higher in videos
posted during versus prior to the pandemic (16 versus 4),
whereas the median number of likes was higher prior to the
pandemic (134 versus 84); however, these differences were not
statistically significant. Prepandemic videos had a significantly
higher number of median views (22,787 versus 5,576); this
is influenced by the time frame: 11 years for videos before
COVID-19, 18 months for videos during COVID-19. Videos
TABLE 1. Comparison of factual content and produce washing techniques in videos posted
prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemica
Characteristics
Factual
Soap
Vinegar
Baking soda
Salt
Spices
Lemon
Otherc
Temp abuse
aData are shown as no. (%).
bPearson's χ2
c
test; Fisher's exact test.
Other includes washing fruits and vegetables with potassium permanganate, isopropyl alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, toothpaste, and
essential oils, and also using the dishwasher.
During COVID-19 (N = 66) Before COVID-19 (N = 34)
11 (16.7)
17 (25.8)
30 (45.5)
19 (28.8)
22 (33.3)
4 (6.1)
5 (7.6)
16 (24.2)
5 (7.6)
19 (55.9)
2 (5.9)
13 (38.2)
6 (17.6)
3 (8.8)
1 (2.9)
3 (8.8)
1 (2.9)
0 (0.0)
P-valueb
<0.001
0.016
0.633
0.329
0.007
0.659
0.900
0.009
0.163
March/April Food Protection Trends 163
Food Protection Trends - March/April 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Food Protection Trends - March/April 2023
