Food safety and older people: the Kitchen Life study

This report presents a study carried out by the University of Hertfordshire, designed to investigate, document, analyse and interpret domestic kitchen practices. The study was intended to generate insights about ‘what goes on and why’ in UK kitchens to inform the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) thinking about how to reduce the burden of foodborne disease. A key focus of earlier FSA research has been on reported behaviours – the Kitchen Life study took a different approach, to examine what people do, what they say about what they do and the role of the kitchen itself and its assorted things, technologies and resources (chopping boards, microwaves and cupboards, for example).