Partnership for Food Safety Education

FightBAC!

This Thanksgiving — Simple, Safe & Sane

A Healthy Home Holiday

Keeping your family safe from a foodborne illness is more important than ever. With the healthcare system fully employed to help people who have coronavirus, it is important to stay healthy and stay out of the hospital emergency room.

The Partnership for Food Safety Education urges all Americans to follow the CDC’s guidance on holiday gatherings and plan to not congregate with people from outside of your household. COVID-19 is a very serious risk — plan accordingly.

For your household-only Thanksgiving meal, here are a few ideas for keeping it simple and setting yourself up for success:

(1) Prepare a smaller traditional turkey

  • A small turkey of 8 pounds will feed 8 people and take about 2.5 hours to roast. Remember, a food thermometer is essential to successful turkey roasting. The internal temperature of the turkey should reach 165 °F. Once it does, remove it from the oven, and let it rest for 20 minutes.
  • A bone-in turkey breast is a great option for a household meal. A bone-in whole turkey breast of 4 to 6 pounds will feed 6 people. It will take between 1.5 to 2 hours to roast and — again — it is only done when your thermometer reaches 165 °F. Let it rest 20 minutes or more before serving.


(2) Focus on favorite side dishes!

  • Choose your two favorite sides to prepare. Keep things simple, and set yourself up for success by limiting the number of side dishes you make.
  • When using delicious frozen options, remember to serve them safely by following package and preparation instructions.


(3) Follow the Core Four practices for safety

  • Clean: Every recipe begins with handwashing. Wash hands with soap and water before starting food prep — every meal, every time. Wash your hands often with soap and water throughout the day.
  • Separate: Prevent cross-contamination from harmful bacteria by separating raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs from other foods in your grocery shopping cart, grocery bags and in your refrigerator. Use one cutting board for fresh produce and a separate one for raw meat, poultry and seafood.
  • Cook: Food is safely cooked when it reaches a high enough internal temperature to kill the harmful bacteria that cause foodborne illness. Use a food thermometer which measures the internal temperature of cooked meat, poultry and egg dishes, to make sure that the food is cooked to a safe internal temperature.
  • Chill: Refrigerate foods quickly because cold temperatures slow the growth of harmful bacteria. Keeping a constant refrigerator temperature of 40 °F or below is one of the most effective ways to reduce the risk of foodborne illness.


When home cooks follow the Clean, Separate, Cook and Chill food safety steps, they will help reduce the risk of food poisoning.

We’ve got many delicious, downloadable recipes that include basic food safety steps built right in. Join our e-mail list for reminders and resources on home food safety.

The Partnership wishes you a simple, safe and sane holiday season!

Fight BAC! on the Farm

How You Can Help Farmers Protect Our Food

What comes to your mind when you hear the word “farm”? Perhaps you picture a huge field with stalks and vegetables. Many people don’t think about farms providing safe food for our families to eat.

Food Safety on the Farm

Food safety on the farm is not usually front of our minds on a day-to-day basis. But when a food recall makes the news, we may wonder are farmers keeping our food safe? Even though recalls happen, farmers work hard to keep the food they grow safe.

Farming Food Safety Culture

There is a food safety culture on farms. The farmers work hard in many ways to keep food safe. One major way farmers do this is complying with the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011. Part of this law created the Produce Safety Rule. This rule built stricter requirements and accountability in keeping food safe for human consumption. You can learn more about the act and what the requirements on the FDA’s website.

The Rule, Farmers and Consumers (Us!)

Part of the Produce Safety Rule is that farmers must do their best to control for contamination that may be caused by animal feces. To keep animals out there are some controls that can be put into place to keep contamination to a minimum.

Barriers: Farmers will use fencing to keep animals and other unwanted items, such as trash, out of the fields. They might also post signs notifying people that the farm is private property and to keep out. While farmers are doing these things to protect the fields, it is important to understand why they are doing this.

Consumers: It may be tempting to go into a field to look at the growing plants, but it really isn’t a good idea. You might accidentally bring in contaminants on your shoes.

Pets: If you live in or are visiting an area with farms, keep your pets on a leash. Domestic animal poop can contaminate a field. Keep pets off to the side of the field. It is also necessary to pick up your pet’s waste. You wouldn’t want your dog to poop in your home garden, so don’t let them poop in the farm field either. Just remember a domestic animal’s waste could introduce bacteria that can cause contamination, and ultimately, it could lead to foodborne illness in the community.

An example of animal waste contamination is the romaine lettuce E. coli outbreak in 2019.

The bottom line? Stay out of fields, keep pets out of fields, and if you walk near a field, pick up your pet’s waste. Even if pet waste isn’t in the field, water flow could carry it into the field and cause contamination.

Help Farmers Maintain a Safe Food Supply

We all need to keep out of fields and dispose of unwanted substances in an appropriate way. Farmers will keep working hard by planning and documenting what they do to maintain a safe, healthy food supply.

Importance of Food Safety at Home

The farmers do their part to bring us safe food. However, food safety doesn’t end at the grocery store. It continues at home.

To keep your food safe at home, follow the Partnership for Food Safety Education’s Core Four Practices:

  • Clean: wash your hands for 20 seconds with soap and water. Keep kitchen utensils and surfaces clean.
  • Separate: keep raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs separate from foods that are ready-to-eat, such as salad, bread and produce.
  • Cook: use a food thermometer to cook foods to the correct internal temperature that will kill bacteria that cause foodborne illness.
  • Chill: keep cold food cold and promptly refrigerate food to 40 °F or below. Keep a thermometer in your refrigerator to make sure it is at the correct temperature.

We can have confidence that modern preventive practices will soon be in place, no matter where in the world food is produced. The Produce Safety Rule, along with other FSMA-mandated rules to regulate food production, importation and transportation, will better protect us all from foodborne illness.

Melissa Wyatt is an Area Assistant Agent, Family Consumer Health Sciences with The University of Arizona. She is a BAC Fighter Ambassador who is passionate about nutrition education, food preservation and cooking classes.

Consumer Education Best of Times

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” — A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

We have seen such a dichotomy of events throughout the year that has been 2020. The impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on those involved within the food system has been unprecedented. The pandemic has been likened to a hurricane that knows no shore. With the closure of dine-in restaurants, the retail grocery industry instantaneously became the primary source of food to customers in the U.S.

There have been a number of disruptions throughout the food system, from the rush on stores with food stockpiling, to the lack of product availability due to temporary facility shutdowns. The demand for home delivery and curbside pickup grew at lightspeed. The food system has been shaken, but it is resilient. With the increase of meals prepared at home, food safety awareness has never been more urgent and relevant for the customers we serve.

Over the last two decades, the Partnership for Food Safety Education (PFSE) has served as the leading voice in promoting safe food handling messaging. The “core four” messages of Clean, Separate, Cook and Chill serve as the cornerstone messages to connect with consumers.  Over the last three years, the Partnership has driven successful campaigns to millions of Americans including The Story of Your Dinner, Don’t Wing It, and most recently, the Safe Recipe Style Guide. Coupled with the appointments of strong food safety education advocates, Dr. Mindy M. Brashears, USDA FSIS Undersecretary for Food Safety and Frank Yiannas, FDA Deputy Commissioner for Food Policy and Response, I am confident we have the best leadership to advance consumer food safety education for a brighter tomorrow!

On July 13, 2020, the FDA introduced The New Era of Smarter Food Safety, FDA’s Blueprint for the Future. Of the four core elements introduced, Food Safety Culture has the promise to positively impact food safety education for consumers spending more time in their home kitchens. Specific to developing and promoting a smarter food safety education campaign, the FDA calls out several concepts, including understanding and utilizing new technologies relevant to food safety, engaging new partners in a broad coalition to promote food safety culture, and using tech-enabled popular mediums and tools, such as smart home devices, smart phones, digital platforms, to help reach consumers with “smarter” food safety messages.

Does “smarter” food safety sound like a science-fiction experiment? Hardly. Over the last few years, major cities have been investing heavily in smart technology to help advance transportation, public safety, and environment challenges. Take a look at the investments being made by these cities across the country: Atlanta, GA; Nashville, TN; Charlotte, NC; and Lake Nona in Orlando, FL. When evaluating these smart city solutions, it is worth noting they are all people led and technology enabled. It is worth remembering this as we focus on food safety culture.

More recently on October 6, 2020, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service hosted Food Safety: Consumer Outreach and Education Today and for the Future. During this meeting, agencies, associations and business leaders provided a state of the union on leading consumer food safety education efforts. We will continue to build upon these efforts when the Partnership hosts Now You Have My Attention: Hand Hygiene & Food Safety Education for Everyone, March 9-12, 2021 at our Consumer Food Safety Education Virtual Conference. Please plan to join us for this event.

We remain in the middle of a global pandemic, and everyone should heed the CDC’s guidance related to fall and winter holiday celebrations. This year’s Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s seasons will likely have a deeper meaning of family and faith, and for that, we are all grateful. It is a time for giving back and serving those who may need assistance and care. 

PFSE has established itself with a differentiated, focused approach to food and health: eliminating foodborne illness by educating consumers about safe food handling. Through the strong partnerships forged with those currently participating in the Partnership and those who we’ll engage as new partners with our broad coalition to promote food safety culture, I wish you all a safe and healthy holiday season. 

Lastly, I would like to acknowledge Publix Super Markets for allowing me the opportunity to serve the Partnership along with real food safety champions on the PFSE Board of Directors. 

Through the Partnership for Food Safety Education, we can build upon these collaborative efforts to help advance food safety and health for the families we all strive to mutually serve every day. By accelerating our prevention focus with the health of all top-of-mind, we can help bend the curve on foodborne illness.

Have a wonderful holiday season, and I look forward to seeing you in the New Year!

All the best…Michael

Michael Roberson is Director of Corporate Quality Assurance for Publix Super Markets. He was elected Chairman of the Partnership for Food Safety Education Board of Directors in September 2020.

New Recipes to Cure Home Cooking Fatigue

Recipes are quick, delicious and safe — just in time for National Food Safety Education Month!

Just when you’ve run out of ideas for easy and tasty meals at home, the non-profit Partnership for Food Safety Education (PFSE) has released new safe recipes and the online safe recipes activity for middle school kids learning at home.

The new Safe Recipe Cookbook features 10 recipes unlike those usually found online. These recipes include food safety prompts — and have been tested for deliciousness and for preparation times of 30 minutes or less.

“COVID-19 has us cooking more at home and also more aware of the importance of hand hygiene to our health,” said Shelley Feist, PFSE executive director. “The Partnership for Food Safety Education is proud to provide weeks’ worth of easy recipes that support your family’s overall good health because they include food safety prompts that, when followed, will reduce your risk of foodborne illness.”

The Safe Recipe Cookbook includes 30-minute meals that were entered in a summer contest by health and food safety communicators, food bloggers, and kids who care about food safety. All recipes entered in the contest were built using the Safe Recipe Style Guide.

Other just-released home food safety items available through The Story of Your Dinner include a short video for parents “Your Baby & Food Safety” — available in English and Spanish — activity sheets for kids, and many other resources to help ensure food safety in your kitchen now and throughout the holiday season.

To help home cooks keep their families healthy this fall, PFSE offers important food safety reminders:

1. Recent research from the USDA shows 97 percent of people fail to properly wash their hands when preparing a meal. This means with soap and water! Before cooking and after handling raw ingredients (such as meat, poultry, eggs and flour), wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds.

2. Rinsing raw poultry (or any raw meat) is not a safety step! Rinsing your chicken or turkey can spread harmful bacteria around your sink, countertops and onto your hands.

3. Always use a food thermometer to ensure meat, poultry and other foods have reached a safe internal temperature. Print this temperature chart to keep handy in your kitchen.

Here are all of the fun food safety and meal preparation resources (in English and Spanish) from StoryOfYourDinner.org:


The Story of Your Dinner and the 30-Minute Meals Safe Recipe Contest are supported by Cargill, Costco Wholesale, and the FMI Foundation. For more campaign information and resources, visit StoryOfYourDinner.org.

Kids Building Safe Recipes Online Activity!

Kid Cooks Master Food Safety

Research shows that people who follow recipes with food safety instructions are more likely to practice food safety behaviors.* Consistently practicing food safety behaviors will help reduce the risk of foodborne illness.

When handwashing instructions are included in recipes, handwashing increases from 59% to 90%. Additionally, adding food thermometer instructions improves food thermometer use from 20% to 86%.

Isn’t that amazing? Recipes that include food safety steps help Fight BAC (harmful bacteria) because people follow them!

Right now, families are preparing more food at home. Parents support food safety education for their children. Middle school students are excited about food safety, but they have only basic food safety knowledge.**

Now, you can give students the tools and knowledge to create their own safe recipes!

The Safe Recipe Activity for Middle School Students incorporates ideas from the Safe Recipe Style Guide. The exact wording of the Style Guide was created under the guidance of food safety experts and adjusted with the direction of leading food journalists. It focuses on the areas where food safety practice is most important:

  • Handwashing
  • Avoiding cross-contamination
  • Produce handling
  • Temperature

You can find the safe recipe activity online in an interactive format and as a printable download! These two formats make it ideal for students who are attending school in the classroom or at home. The activity takes very little preparation, so it’s also great for parents and after-school programs.

Here’s how the activity works:

  • Students review a handout of the Safe Recipe Style Guide.
  • They choose one of the five provided kid-friendly “basic” recipes. The basic recipes are correct, but lack food safety instructions. Students can choose from the following delicious recipes: Vegetarian Lasagna, Breakfast Quiche, Turkey Burgers, Chicken Pepper Bake, and Pesto Salmon & Veggies.
  • Students use information in the Safe Recipe Style Guide to turn the basic recipe into a safe recipe.
  • Students take an online quiz to test how safe their recipe really is. The quiz explains the answer for each question, regardless of correctness. The students will finish the activity with a recipe that is not only tasty, but also safe.

The Safe Recipe Activity for Middle School Students meets several National Health Education and National Science Education requirements.

Virtual or in-person, this is a great activity to help middle school students learn about the science of food safety and create safe recipes!

Have a fun and safe school year!

*Journal of Food Protection **Journal of Food Science Education

Carly Gomez is a National Science Foundation graduate fellow pursuing both an M.S. and Ph.D. in Biosystems Engineering at Michigan State University. She served as an intern with PFSE during Summer 2020.