PR case study: National campaign about safe cooking temperatures

Electronic Temperature Instruments (ETI) is a manufacturer and supplier of digital thermometers and probes for the catering industry.

ETI’s conviction lies in the principle of cooking to temperature rather than relying solely on time. Conducting a swift temperature check ensures that your food is not only safe to eat but also avoids the risk of being overcooked and turning dry.

The unreliability of cooking times stems from numerous variables. Oven temperatures may drift over time, the initial temperature of the meat varies depending on whether it is cooked directly from the fridge, and the presence of multiple dishes in the oven can impact cooking speed.

Safety in food is determined by reaching specific cooking temperatures. ETI wanted to find out whether supermarkets accurately gauged the time required for chicken to reach a safe temperature of 74 °C without overestimating and risking undercooked products.

To test the hypothesis that cooking times are often overestimated, we suggested an experiment involving four whole supermarket chickens – one each from Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Tesco, and Lidl. The objective was to uncover the extent of cooking overestimation, if any, and shed light on the precision required in determining cooking times amid the complexities involved.

We could then turn to our wide range of key tier one media contacts to help shine a light on potential energy savings and the food waste epidemic.

Magenta’s brief for the campaign was:

To position ETI as an expert on cooking to temperature rather than time
To highlight the capabilities of ETI’s laboratories and food thermometers
To build a profile in key national media and engage with the featured supermarkets
To be a leading voice in the conversation around food safety and food waste

Strategy

We visited the ETI labs to discuss how the study would look and what would be required from a visual standpoint. Photos were eventually used with the accompanying study findings and as part of the media outreach.

We to be nimble and alert to the ever-changing news agenda. With food safety and waste a prominent issue, particularly in mainstream media, we had to ensure the study findings were in a position to be published and that suitable commentary from ETI’s managing director, Jason Webb, was tailored for reactive comment opportunities.

We understood what reporters need in terms of data and commentary to help frame their stories. To this day, we are ensuring a consistent flow of commentary and data is produced from ETI to reporters across national print titles, catering, and hospitality.

Creativity and implementation

On average, the chickens had a packet cooking time of 87 minutes and 30 seconds. However, the average time they took to reach 74 °C during the study was 44 minutes and 30 seconds. This means that the cooking times were overestimated by an average of 96.6%.

Because the chickens spent nearly double the length of time in the oven than needed, we urged ETI to investigate how much extra energy this uses. Based on estimates that the average UK oven costs 71p an hour to run, cooking one of the whole chickens to the time indicated on the packet would cost £1.04, whereas cooking them to 74 °C would cost 53p.

We felt that the study findings were worthy of a tier one national exclusive and reached out to one of our key contacts at The Times. Our designer supported ETI in the creation of several infographics to visually tell the story.

We also suggested that ETI write a letter to the CEOs and heads of the relevant departments at each supermarket showcasing the survey findings and encouraging them to review the cooking guidelines on their packaging. We drafted these letters on behalf of ETI. The underlying message was to encourage supermarkets to include cooking to temperature guidelines as well as cooking to time.

We placed regular opinion and comment pieces in key trade and vertical sector titles, such as The Caterer, discussing how cooking to temperature as opposed to time can support both commercial kitchens and the regular consumer in tackling food waste and improving the quality of their food.

Results

Full-page spreads were published in The Times (exclusive) and subsequently in the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph. The headlines questioning whether supermarket cooking guidelines were ruining the Sunday roast supported ETI’s bid in getting supermarkets to review the cooking guidelines on their poultry.

Following the print articles, each outlet quickly published the story online too. The readership of July’s coverage alone, when the study findings were published, was 848m with estimated coverage views just shy of 500k.

As a result of this successful campaign, we then suggested that ETI conduct another survey closer to Christmas featuring chickens and turkeys. Again, we turned to our key contact at The Times who published this story exclusively the week before Christmas, both in print and online. Coverage appeared in The Sun and online at current affairs title, The Week.

ETI received direct responses from Sainsbury’s and Tesco following Jason’s letters.

He was approached by Tesco’s head of technical for all products which sit within its Meat, Fish, Poultry & Eggs category within the business. He was very grateful for the study information and concluded his response to Jason with ‘We will, however, specifically re-review the cooking instructions of our whole birds and make any changes we see as required”.

He also acknowledged that there is pressure to reduce cooking time in the home and that Tesco will continue to review this alongside its suppliers, and its ongoing Market Quality review programmes and internal Quality Measurement teams.

The results of this campaign saw ETI become a trusted expert in cooking to temperature, a vital objective at the start of the campaign.