Health education and food safety behavior in the university setting.

Health education in colleges and universities offers an opportunity to reach a captive audience of young people in order to promote a lifetime of healthy behavior. University health education typically focuses on topics such as alcohol and substance abuse, sexual behavior, and nutrition. Environmental health issues are not a prominent component of university health education, even though an understanding of a healthy environment is critical to promoting overall health. Food safety is an environmental health issue of particular concern in universities since many young adults prepare their own meals for the first time there. Food safety questions from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey were used to assess the behaviors of 354 upper-level undergraduate students. Findings from the survey indicate that students are engaging in risky food consumption and handling behaviors and that the educational techniques mandated by the federal government are ineffective in reaching college students.