Educating Young Consumers about Food Hygiene and Safety with SafeConsume: A Multi-Centre Mixed Methods Evaluation

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

It is an interesting paper, and I enjoyed reading it. Although the manuscript addresses a significant subject in the literature, the following changes are suggested to improve the value of the study. Please see my comments below: 

Line 47-48 More up-to-date articles (2021-2022) from reputable journals, e.g. Nutrition & Food Science, British Food Journal and (Education Science) are needed.

Line 321-338- The discussion section needs to be improved - It needs more comparing and contrasting with the existing and up-to-date literature.

Line 369-373- The study mentioned that the ethical approval had been taken from each of the four country organisations, It would be good to put the ethical approval references number from each organization and state their name in this section.

You have also provided the questionnaire as an additional document. I was wondering what are the correct answers for the multiple choice questions. 

Author Response

Reviewer comment: Line 47-48 More up-to-date articles (2021-2022) from reputable journals, e.g. Nutrition & Food Science, British Food Journal and (Education Science) are needed.

Response: Additional references added, including one from the Journal of Food Quality which has an impact factor of 2.45, and from Food Control which has an impact factor of 5.548.

Reviewer comment: Line 321-338- The discussion section needs to be improved - It needs more comparing and contrasting with the existing and up-to-date literature.

Response: I have made additions to comparison section to include some pertinent related studies. 

Reviewer comment: Line 369-373- The study mentioned that the ethical approval had been taken from each of the four country organisations, It would be good to put the ethical approval references number from each organization and state their name in this section.

Response: These have been included.

Reviewer comment: You have also provided the questionnaire as an additional document. I was wondering what are the correct answers for the multiple choice questions. 

Response: These have been included.

Reviewer 2 Report

- in the methods section, you could talk a little more about the demographics of the students in the study- such as race, gender, etc. 

- I recognize that this is an Education journal, rather than a food safety journal, but I think it would be good to include a little more information on the food safety content of the materials. I also think it would be good to provide information on how others can access/ utilize these materials if they are interested. 

Table 5 shoes up a little too condensed for me- would be good to have more space between columns.

A little more information on the informed consent process would be good I think.

Good paper overall

Author Response

Reviewer comment: in the methods section, you could talk a little more about the demographics of the students in the study- such as race, gender, etc. 

Response: I have now included available demographics. 

Reviewer comment: I recognize that this is an Education journal, rather than a food safety journal, but I think it would be good to include a little more information on the food safety content of the materials. I also think it would be good to provide information on how others can access/ utilize these materials if they are interested. 

Response: I have included both a link to where the resources are hosted, and have elaborated details on the content of the food safety resources. 

Reviewer comment: Table 5 shoes up a little too condensed for me- would be good to have more space between columns.

Response: I have formatted the table spacing and removed additional unnecessary text.

Reviewer comment: A little more information on the informed consent process would be good I think.

Response: I have provided additional information regarding content.