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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Increase the proportion of people who cook food to a safe temperature — FS‑09 Data Methodology and Measurement

On this page:  About the National Data  |  Methodology  |  History

About the National Data

Data

Data Source:  Food Safety Survey, FDA

Baseline: 42.0 percent of consumers correctly followed the recommendation to use a food thermometer when cooking meat and poultry in 2016

Target: 47.0 percent

Numerator
The percent of consumers aged 18 years and older who report they follow the key food safety practice: cook.
Denominator
Number of practices measured among persons aged 18 years and older who prepare food (consumers).
Target-setting method
Percentage point improvement
Target-setting method details
Percentage point improvement from the baseline using Cohen's h effect size of 0.10.
1
Target-setting method justification
Trend data were not available for this objective. A percentage point improvement was calculated using Cohen's h effect size of 0.1. This method was used because it was a statistically significant improvement from the baseline.

Methodology

Questions used to obtain the national baseline data

(For additional information, please visit the data source page linked above.)

From the 2016 Food Safety Survey:

Numerator:
Do you have a food thermometer, such as a meat thermometer?
  1. Yes
  2. No
Thinking of your usual habits over the past year, when you prepare the following foods, how often do you use a thermometer?

For roasts or other large pieces of meat - how often do you use a thermometer when you cook roasts? Would you say…

  1. Always
  2. Often
  3. Sometimes
  4. Never
  5. Never cook the food
How about chicken parts, such as breasts or legs - how often do you use a thermometer when you cook chicken parts? Would you say…
  1. Always
  2. Often
  3. Sometimes
  4. Never
  5. Never cook the food
How about hamburgers - how often do you use a thermometer when you cook or grill hamburgers? Would you say…
  1. Always
  2. Often
  3. Sometimes
  4. Never
  5. Never cook the food

History

Comparable HP2020 objective
Retained, which includes core objectives that are continuing from Healthy People 2020 with no change in measurement.

1. Effect size h=0.1 was chosen to correspond with 10% improvement from a baseline of 50%.