The knowledge that food industries professionals and that consumers use in the production, preparation, storage and consumption of ready to eat foods are different. The former are based in microbiological science, the latter in domestic science and lived experience. Both use imagination to fill knowledge gaps about the unseen agents that live on, in and around us.
A FRSN funded project is aiming to understand how students perceive microbes and food safety.
The project brings together the University of Southampton, Winchester School of Art, the Institute of Food Science and Technology, a GP and the London Science Fiction Research Network.
Photo-voice elicitation is an established social science method in which participants keep a photo diary of particular aspects of their lives, behaviours or environment.
Students are also an interesting consumer group, representing a range of nationalities and cultural backgrounds. Many will be living independently for the first time, and still developing their food knowledges and practices. Others will be living with family members or friends, and sharing and navigating multiple food knowledges and practices as well as multiple human-microbial relations.
