Partnership for Food Safety Education

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Archives for May 26, 2015

Atlanta Kroger Co. Stores Add Culinary Flair to Food Safety Education

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For National Food Safety Education Month, the Partnership for Food Safety Education worked with contributing partner Kroger to create a week- by- week outreach plan. We thank every participating Kroger Co. store for joining us in this effort to connect with customers on food safety in September!

 

Kroger’s Atlanta Division added culinary flair to safe grilling information provided by the Partnership. They offered a double dose of fun to customers: delicious recipes and useful information on food thermometers!

They transformed PFSE’s food thermometer flyer into a recipe flyer, and printed the opposite side with a deliciously tempting recipe from Kroger Chef John Szymanski.

Atlanta’s food safety manager sent 200 flyers to each Atlanta Division store – 120,000 recipe flyers in total! Both customers and store managers loved them.

Thank you Atlanta Division Kroger Stores for reminding consumers that food thermometers are a vital ingredient when preparing food at home!

 

Seriously? Food poisoning at a food safety meeting!

PFSE employee learns the value of her work first-hand

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You may have heard the ironic news that attendees at the Food Safety Summit in Baltimore last April reported symptoms of food poisoning. An investigation by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene found the illnesses were likely caused by Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens), bacteria that appears mostly in meat products and is the result of a failure to hold foods at a high enough temperature.

I was one of the 200+ conference attendees that experienced the food poisoning! It was an experience that I, a BAC Fighter and employee of the Partnership for Food Safety Education, was surprised to have at a food safety meeting (I mean- come on!).

The sleepless and long night of discomfort I experienced did make clear how important it is that everyone play their part in preventing food poisoning, and that a culture that engages everyone in keeping food safe is critical to reducing food poisoning and its severe health impacts.

As Mike Taylor, FDA Deputy Commissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine recently stated, “…We’re not talking about lots of stomach aches. We’re talking about life-changing illness in many cases.” For me, the C. Perfringens incidence demonstrated how important it is that young people learn about the risk of food poisoning, and also learn the healthy food handling habits that can be carried into adulthood.

This experience also shows why the work of BAC Fighters [YOU!] is ever more important. Using Fight BAC!®  materials to reach youth and families in your communities is critical to establishing life-long healthy behaviors that reduce the risk of food poisoning. And when young people enter the food service workforce, safe food handling practices will be second nature!

Because food safety education isn’t about preventing a few stomach aches. It’s about reducing the risk of potentially life-changing illness.

 

 

Kroger Helps Michigan Shoppers Become ProducePros!

Displays and radio messages provide customers with food safety info to take home with purchases.

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The Partnership for Food Safety Education worked with contributing partner Kroger to create a week- by- week Food Safety Education Month outreach plan.  We thank every participating Kroger Co. store for connecting with customers on this important topic!

With the help of their local Kroger stores, thousands of Michigan consumers took steps in September toward becoming ProducePros.

The Partnership’s ProducePro campaign is six actionable practices for consumers to enjoy fresh and safe fruits and vegetables at home. Kroger used campaign elements to create stanchion signs for set-up in all 124 Michigan Kroger stores. The stores also used in-store radio to broadcast consumer food safety tips read by a Kroger chef. What a great way to inform consumers during the shopping experience!

Some stores decided to do more, setting up food safety tables where customers could get the Partnership’s Franken BAC Drawing Contest page and free Home Food Safety Mythbusters flyers.

Thank you Michigan Kroger!

 

Food Safety Superstar

What do you do when you have an encounter with a serious foodborne illness? You Fight BAC! ®

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Dana Dziadul acquired Salmonella Poona after eating contaminated cantaloupe at the age of three.  She’s developed reactive arthritis as a result of the food poisoning. It affects her life every day.  Dana’s experience with a serious illness inspired her to become a food safety advocate – specifically to help keep children like her seven- year old sister safe from food poisoning.

Dana, now 17,  has released a book titled Food Safety Superstar that turns the four core practices into four core Superpowers every kid (and adult) needs to protect themselves against food poisoning. According to Dana, anyone can gain these superpowers with a little education.

Dana will join the Partnership for Food Safety Education and hundreds of health and food safety educators at the Consumer Food Safety Education Conference 2014. She will be featured in the plenary session, Champions for Consumers: Food Safety Educators in Action. 

 

Louisiana BAC Fighter Hosts Power Packed Camp

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Linda Gauthier and her team at Louisiana State University (LSU) hosted a Microbiology and Food Safety Camp from July 14-18, 2014 for 7th and 8th graders on the LSU campus.

During the camp, students:

  • Constructed a giant microbe.
  • Researched bacteria and made three dimensional models using yarn, Styrofoam, etc.
  • Created food safety recipes cards with food safety tips for each ingredient and step of the recipe. Afterwards, they shared their recipes with other campers!
  • Learned the science of cooking a hamburger.
  • Designed a new package for food and created mock advertisements for their products.
  • Created their own “most unwanted pathogens” poster.
  • Visited a food engineering plant, the LSU Food Science Lab, and a microbiology lab.

The campers went home happy after a fun week learning about food safety and science! Linda has been teaching kids about food safety and science for over 30 years. Thanks for all of the hard work, Linda!