OTTAWA - A newly released report indicates Canadians are becoming less aware of how to safely handle and prepare food.
The findings from a government-backed research report point to an overall deterioration over the past eight years in Canadians' confidence that they can protect themselves and their families from food-borne illness and food poisoning.
A majority of seniors and pregnant women in the survey didn't consider themselves to be at any greater risk from food poisoning, even though they are.
The pollsters recommend the government gently target public awareness campaigns at those groups, among others, about how to properly handle food.
And they say it should be done in a way that doesn't undermine the public's confidence in agriculture or the agri-food industry, or Canada's food safety system.
The results of the survey are based on responses from about 12-hundred respondents through telephone interviews, and over 16-hundred people through an online panel, conducted between mid-December of last year and mid-January.
A spokesman for Health Canada says the department will update its safe food handling advertising campaign based on the research report, as well as information from other sources.