Collaboration with the Office of Minority Affairs helped reach many of the African American gatekeeper audiences. This collaboration also helped to identify African American grandmothers as the appropriate source for the intervention. The grandmothers who participated in formative research developed the chitterlings cleaning method for their peers. Having the grandmothers (as messengers) model how to pre-boil chitterlings was thought to make the new preparation method easier to accept within the community. Formative Research Research included literature reviews, community focus groups, and interviews. Telephone and personal interviews were conducted with pork producers and food safety experts at the . Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers.
