Television cookery programmes aim to entertain rather than educate. But with the number of food poisoning cases in the UK unacceptably high, is an opportunity to raise awareness of good food hygiene practice being lost? Nick Warburton reports

Earlier this year, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) reported that the UK could be facing a hidden food poisoning epidemic. A study of 3,153 people looked at consumer attitudes to food standards and concluded that the actual number of food poisoning cases could be nearly twice as high as official figures suggest. Although the FSA emphasised that the survey results only reflected people's perception of the problem, it remains concerned by the implications. Alarmingly, 14 per cent of those surveyed admitted to having experienced food poisoning symptoms over the past year. If this pattern were repeated to take in the total UK population, there could be as many as 8.3 million food poisoning victims annually. Crucially, the survey revealed that less than half of those questioned were happy with present hygiene standards across the food industry.

The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and the FSA alike have often criticised so-called "celebrity chefs" for making controversial remarks about food hygiene or for showing blatant disregard for good hygiene practice on prime-time television. Producers and presenters have been blasted for failing to incorporate food hygiene messages in their shows at a time when food poisoning, particularly in the home remains high. Hitting back, the media's response has been that these programmes aim to entertain viewers and not to educate them. Although this may be the case, should high profile figures be doing more to help in improving food safety?

The rise in popularity of cookery programmes in recent years reflects a growing trend in culinary entertainment, with the emphasis on making cooking fun. The problem is that there is little focus on the health and safety of food preparation - such as washing hands and using separate chopping boards for raw meat and vegetables. Worst still, celebrity chefs may, on occasions, be seen broadcasting poor hygiene habits to millions of viewers, for instance licking fingers while tasting food and wiping hands on dirty cloths and then handling food.

In other instances presenters may be endangering viewers by offering misleading advice on food safety. A case in point is the Food and Drink presenter Antony Worrall Thompson, who recently wrote a column for the Independent on Sunday (11 February 2001) entitled "A few more bugs in our food and we'd be healthier." In the article he noted: "We have gone too far in our pursuit of germ-free food." He added: "We used to develop natural defences so that our bodies could tolerate more, but today we don't build up our immune systems." He stresses that he is not an advocate of sloppiness or unhygienic practices, but argues that we should be more concerned with other, hidden dangers such as the amount of fat, sugar and salt in processed foods.

Such remarks, however, fly in the face of public health supporters like the Food and Drink Federation and the FSA, which argue that his comments could be misinterpreted by viewers. Jackie Dowthwaite, media and parliamentary relations manager for the Food and Drink Federation points out that Worrall Thompson's comments are irresponsible because they do not make enough of a distinction between bacteria and pathogens, which can kill. Robert Rees of the FSA, is equally dismissive of such remarks and argues that they are counter productive to the organisation's efforts to improve food standards. "When Worrall Thompson says 'a litte bit of dirt is not going to hurt you' it doesn't help our drive to reduce foodborne illnesses." Mr Rees adds: "Such high profile figures have a responsibility to raise awareness of good food hygiene, just as other groups like schools and local authorities do. Our research shows that a large proportion of the public is unclear about a range of food hygiene issues and celebrity chefs could play an important role in providing the information they need."

The CIEH, which condemned Clarissa Dickson Wright, former presenter of Two Fat Ladies, for licking her fingers and then plunging her hands into unprepared food has also voiced its concerns about the lack of food hygiene in the media. According to James Page, press officer for the CIEH: "We are trying to educate people on hygiene standards, but they see television cooks failing to carry out basic precautions such as washing their hands."

Due to their high media profiles, it could be argued that celebrity chefs are role models who have a responsibility to set good standards of food hygiene. By failing to do this it makes it difficult to persuade the public to adopt best practice. However, Gary Hunter, a lecturer at Westminster College where Jamie Oliver and Ainsley Harriott trained, argues that programming time is constrained. He says: "If presenters had to wash their hands every time they touched something new, these programmes would go on for hours." The CIEH, however, is not convinced and stresses that while it is aware that these programmes have to be entertaining and are time constrained, they also have a responsibility to be informative.

Derek Gould, principle EHO at Surrey Heath BC, however, believes that there are some celebrity chefs who have made efforts in the direction of promoting hygiene standards: "To a certain extent, I think there have been some improvements recently, but the lack of best practice still leaves a great deal to be desired." He argues that in some cases, it may not be the chefs that are to blame but the producers: "Some programmes have obviously been heavily cut, so we are not seeing the whole picture." Professor Tim Lang, head of food policy at Thames Valley University agrees: "A distinction should be made between what they actually do in the studio and what you see on the screen."

Prof Lang, however, disagrees with the FSA and the CIEH that celebrity chefs have a significant role to play in educating the public: "What is really needed is a new national look at education by the Government. It is the responsibility of the Department for Education and Employment (Dfee) to deliver proper food education covering hygiene, safety and nutrition." He adds that a recent article published in the Journal for the study of food and society shows that TV cooking programmes rate low as an influence on cooking behaviour.1 The article explores the role of cookery programmes and the media in influencing cooking and health behaviours within the English population. From the findings, the researchers conclude that health promoters' claims that they influence the way food is prepared and cooked is largely unfounded.

While food hygiene practice was not discussed as such in the article, the findings revealed that most respondents had learnt their cooking skills from matriarchal influence and from school, implying that celebrity chefs had little influence in shaping people's behaviour.

Yet, as the FSA's recent study reveals, significant numbers of the public remain ignorant on a range of issues relating to food preparation and storage. For instance, only 61 per cent of respondents knew the correct operating temperature for their fridge, while perhaps more worryingly, only a third knew what to do with products that had either exceeded a best before or use by date. In general, people appear to be in need of detailed information on a wider range of food issues, such as preparing meat and poultry and how to store perishable goods.

In response to this debate, the CIEH has proposed a number of suggestions for incorporating basic hygiene into television cookery programmes, without affecting the running time. One such suggestion is to run a different health warning with the credits to remind viewers of certain health hazards at the end of each show. As Mr Page points out, "we are not asking celebrity chefs to give in-depth explanations. All they need to do is show best practice and give small reminders on health hazards."

If producers are unwilling to incorporate hygiene and safety messages into television shows, an alternative approach, according to John Forte, chairman of the HCMA Technical Advisory Group could be to use celebrity cookbooks. He suggests that an introductory chapter on basic food hygiene, including advice on food storage and preparation would be extremely helpful. But the main problem is that environment health officers and public health organisations are in a no-win situation with regards to the entertainment versus education argument. By publicly criticising popular television programmes and celebrities they are vilified in the press as being "nannys" or killjoys. But, if they do nothing they are failing in their public health duties and are seen as condoning bad practice.

1 "The Influence of TV and celebrity chefs on public attitudes and behaviour among the British public" by Martin Caraher, Ph.D, Tim Lang and Paul Dixon, the Journal for the study of food and society, volume 1, spring 2000.