Evaluation of the Oklahoma Beef Cooking School for Youth (OBCSY)

Scope and method of study. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness/impact of participation in OBCSY: to determine if the cooking school met the goals of helping children to increase their understanding of how beef can fit into a healthy diet, how to purchase beef, nutritious methods of preparing beef ad how to reduce risk of foodborne illness. Children of age 8-18 participated in the OBCSY completed a self check tool at the end of each OBCSY. The self check tool consisted of 8 multiple choice questions and one open-ended question about what the participant learned the day of the school.; Findings and conclusions. The result of this study indicated significant differences (gender perspective) in how big a serving will participant eat after participated on OBSCY and whether or not they would consider price per serving when buying beef for family. There was also significant difference between grades in how often the participants planned to eat beef in the future and if they would use a food thermometer to determine doneness when cooking beef in the future. OBCSY successfully impacted participants' awareness and knowledge about beef. Future research is needed to identify interventions that will foster long term behavior change for healthy lifestyle.