Barriers and facilitators to cooking from 'scratch' using basic or raw ingredients: A qualitative interview study

Background: Previous research has highlighted an ambiguity in understanding cooking related terminology and a number of barriers and facilitators to home meal preparation. However, meals prepared in the home still include convenience products (typically high in sugars, fats and sodium) which can have negative effects on health. Therefore, this study aimed to qualitatively explore: (1) how individuals define cooking from ‘scratch’, and (2) their barriers and facilitators to cooking with basic ingredients.
Methods: 27 semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants (aged 18-58 years) living on the island of Ireland, eliciting definitions of ‘cooking from scratch’ and exploring the reasons participants cook in a particular way. The interviews were professionally transcribed verbatim and Nvivo 10 was used for an inductive thematic analysis.
Results: Our results highlighted that although cooking from ‘scratch’ lacks a single definition, participants viewed it as optimal cooking. Barriers to cooking with raw ingredients included: 1) time pressures; (2) desire to save money; (3) desire for effortless meals; (4) family food preferences; and (5) effect of kitchen disasters. Facilitators included: 1) desire to eat for health and well-being; (2) creative inspiration; (3) ability to plan and prepare meals ahead of time; and (4) greater self-efficacy in one’s cooking ability.
Conclusions: Our findings contribute to understanding how individuals define cooking from ‘scratch’, and barriers and facilitators to cooking with raw ingredients. Interventions should focus on practical sessions to increase cooking self-efficacy; highlight the importance of planning ahead and teach methods such as batch cooking and freezing to facilitate cooking from scratch.

Sensitive and specific detection of viable Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in raw milk by the Peptide-mediated magnetic separation (PMS)-phage assay

This study describes further validation of a previously described Peptide-mediated magnetic separation (PMS)-Phage assay, and its application to test raw cows’ milk for presence of viable Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP). The inclusivity and exclusivity of the PMS-phage assay were initially assessed, before the 50% limit of detection (LOD50) was determined and compared with those of PMS-qPCR (targeting both IS900 and f57) and PMS-culture. These methods were then applied in parallel to test 146 individual milk samples and 22 bulk tank milk samples from Johne’s affected herds. Viable MAP were detected by the PMS-phage assay in 31 (21.2%) of 146 individual milk samples (mean plaque count of 228.1 PFU/50 ml, range 6-948 PFU/50 ml), and 13 (59.1%) of 22 bulk tank milks (mean plaque count of 136.83 PFU/50 ml, range 18-695 PFU/50 ml). In contrast, only 7 (9.1%) of 77 individual milks and 10 (45.4%) of 22 bulk tank milks tested PMS-qPCR positive, and 17 (11.6%) of 146 individual milks and 11 (50%) of 22 bulk tank milks tested PMS-culture positive. The mean 50% limits of detection (LOD50) of the PMS-phage, PMS-IS900 qPCR and PMS-f57 qPCR assays, determined by testing MAP-spiked milk, were 0.93, 135.63 and 297.35 MAP CFU/50 ml milk, respectively. Collectively, these results demonstrate that, in our laboratory, the PMS-phage assay is a sensitive and specific method to quickly detect the presence of viable MAP cells in milk. However, due to its complicated, multi-step nature, the method would not be a suitable MAP screening method for the dairy industry.