People in the West Midlands gambling with their guts - Food Standards Agency poll exposes the West Midlands risky food hygiene habits

Issued on behalf of Food Standards Agency

People in the West Midlands gambling with their guts - Food Standards Agency poll exposes the West Midlands risky food hygiene habits

People in theWest Midlandsare putting their health at risk when cooking at home, a new survey has shown. 85% of those asked in the West Midlands admitted to one or more habits that put them at risk of food poisoning, including 27% admitting they would eat food that has been dropped on the floor and 21% not washing their hands properly before preparing food.

These kitchen horrors have been exposed at the start of Food Safety Week, which runs from 10 - 16 June. During the week, the Food Standards Agency wants to get people in the West Midlands thinking about food hygiene at home, by completing the new Kitchen Check. The Kitchen Check gets people to look at their own food preparation practices and will give them a score and some tips based on their answers.

The survey also reveals that 32% people in the West Midlands don't check 'use by' dates, with 87%of them wrongly using the 'sniff test' and 71% just checking the colour – even though this will not always reveal whether food is safe to eat. Unlike 'best before' dates, 'use by' dates relate to safety and are based on scientific testing, yet 46%  of those questioned said they would eat food after its 'use by' date – the most frequent food safety gamble admitted.

While admitting these risky kitchen habits, more than 84% said they are confident they get things right with food hygiene all or most of the time and 94 % believe they've never given family or friends food poisoning. If they do fall ill themselves, only 5% of people in the West Midlands consider whether the cleanliness of their own kitchen is the cause.

However, the survey also showed some encouraging examples - 95% said they wash chopping boards in between preparing raw and ready-to-eat food and almost 81% stick to the recommended 48 hours for keeping leftovers in the fridge.

Bob Martin, food safety expert at the Food Standards Agency, said: “By not washing their hands before preparing food at home, or ignoring 'use by' dates, people in the West Midlands could be setting themselves and their friends or family up for a bout of really unpleasant illness. It's encouraging though to see that the majority of people are concerned about food safety. We've created the Kitchen Check to help people to think about why they do in their own homes and make it easier for people to be knowledgeable and confident about storing and preparing food."

For more information on safe eating in the home and to take the Kitchen Check visit:www.food.gov.uk/kitchen-check

The Food Standards Agency can also be found on social media, visit: food.gov.uk/facebook or food.gov.uk/twitter

There are more than a million cases of food poisoning each year, including 20,000 hospitalisations and 500 deaths.

Throughout Food Safety Week, the Food Standards Agency will be using Facebook and Twitter to provide food safety advice. On Friday 14 June, the FSA will be using Twitter to run a fridge clinic where members of the public can send us images of their fridge and we will tweet back suggestions and tips on how to store food more safely. For updates on this and the rest of Food Safety Week visit: food.gov.uk/facebook or food.gov.uk/twitter

The survey was conducted by Censuswide on behalf of the Food Standards Agency between Monday 3 May and Thursday 9 May 2013. A total of 2,199 UK respondents took part.