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FANO volunteers often give their time as groups, such as
from fraternities and corporate volunteer days. For example,
Florida Blue offers its workers 8 paid hours per year to donate
to the worker's preferred cause. The Greater Chicago Food
Depository, which distributed 77.3 million meals in 2022,
invites corporate groups of up to 29 volunteers for tasks such
as repackaging fresh produce for distribution on shifts lasting
2-3 h (24). Such volunteering often occurs in single visits
rather than as a weekly or regular volunteer commitment.
As a result, FANOs host exponentially more volunteers than
other types of organizations.
This problem can be defined as high volunteer turnover
and is prevalent in nonprofits (31, 55). A high turnover
rate in volunteer workers means that a greater portion of
volunteers may be new and inexperienced and thus more
likely to struggle with retention of food safety knowledge,
practices, and regulations (15, 31, 55). Providing preservice
and in-service training programs, recognizing and rewarding
volunteers' contributions to the nonprofit's mission,
and implementing more challenging tasks may all lower
the turnover rate of volunteers in FANOs and increase
the probability of sufficient food safety knowledge and
experience (31, 55).
Resources such as Foodsafety.gov, the Association of Food
and Drug Officials, and the Conference for Food Protection
offer printable charts, up-to-date research, and training
opportunities accessible to FANO leaders. To combat the
issue of inadequate food safety knowledge and practices,
researchers have analyzed the effectiveness of education
modules and trainings on food safety and handling for
nonprofit workers (17, 42). Pretests and posttests revealed
that education modules and trainings can be effective in
improving understanding and knowledge of food safety
regulations and practices for both volunteers and paid
workers (17). One study proposed that better management
and leadership, which encourages and emphasizes the
importance of proper food safety practices, is necessary (16).
As such, FANOs' risk management protocols for foodborne
illness should mirror the proactive financial control activities
and disaster preparedness plans that are required of them by
their public funders and accepted nonprofit best practices.
The clientele of FANOs should also be considered to a
greater extent in future research surrounding food safety
and nonprofits, which is an issue that was noted in research
surrounding the Woman, Infants, and Children nutrition
program in Miami, Florida, in the late 2000s (12). For
example, multiple studies revealed that the clients' knowledge
about safe food practices was limited, especially regarding
cooking and chilling parameters, inadequate handwashing, and
lack of refrigeration for perishable items (46, 47). In addition,
research has shown that clients can be apathetic to unsafe food
practices and foodborne illnesses and disregard the possible
threats that they pose to their and their children's health (46,
47). Ultimately, this elucidates a need to assess how adequately
food safety is taught and what level of importance it holds
in nutrition nonprofit programs. When workers at FANOs
providing nutrition education become more familiar with
proper food safety practices themselves, it can be inferred that
the clients will, in turn, receive better training.
Potential research questions. The potential research
questions on knowledge of safe food handling in nonprofits
are as follows:
* How does volunteer food safety knowledge affect service
delivery in FANOs?
* What are the learning costs associated with accessing
food safety information?
* What is the relationship between the number of
annually reported volunteers and food safety violations
or foodborne illness outbreaks?
* What is the economic cost of FANO volunteer turnover
and food safety training implementation?
* What volunteer retention strategies are uniquely effective
for FANOs when delivering food safety training?
* What FANO food safety risk management strategies are
most effective at preventing foodborne illnesses?
Methodological limitations. Volunteer and staff knowledge,
attitudes, and behaviors largely drive food safety
practices (17, 42). Thus, researchers must define metrics
for knowledge and attitudes toward food safety practices
separate from metrics for their behaviors. Operationalizing
each separately is essential for developing instructional materials.
Mixed methods can be effective in analyzing the food
safety knowledge of workers in FANOs. However, studies on
instructional materials tend to be exploratory, include small
samples, and are often point-in-time analyses. One study
gathered qualitative data through open-ended interviews
with 105 pantry managers and coded for common themes
to offer researchers nuanced information that may not have
been revealed in close-ended questionnaires (8). Through
this method, valuable information was revealed from the
pantry managers about common, widespread food safety
issues in North Carolina food pantries, such as workers' lack
of knowledge about food recalls and irregular use of refrigerator
thermometers. The tedious process of mixed-methods
studies that pair qualitative and quantitative methods makes
it difficult for researchers to analyze larger sample sizes. This
limitation is particularly true when FANO volunteers often
volunteer one time for a short shift.
Structured surveys can be used to assess changes in
knowledge through pre- and post-interventions and to
measure the adequacy of workers' knowledge (16, 17,
42). Pre- and post-survey data have helped to inform
the effectiveness of training and education programs to
understand how workers' knowledge about food safety
practices and regulations can improve after undergoing
training (17, 42).
July/August Food Protection Trends 287
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