K-State Research and Extension

One of the ways consumers have survived being at home is having food delivered. In fact, from November 31, 2019-November 31-2020, online grocery and restaurant sales increased 125 percent. There has been no link to food as a cause of COVID-19 illnesses. But, all of these services still require safe food handling practices.

The Partnership for Food Safety Education conducted a survey of consumers who used food delivery services and how they handled those foods once they were delivered. They surveyed 657 consumers about their food handling practices for delivered meal kits, grocery items and prepared foods.

Results showed the following:

• 38% washed their hands for 20 seconds
• 56% sanitized food packages with the following methods
• 44% with alcohol or antibacterial wipes
• 6% with hand sanitizer
• 5% with soap and water
• 4% with bleach
• 1% with water

What do these results mean? Food safety practices can always improve through behavior change. Increased handwashing helps reduce many food safety risks. Handwashing before and after handling food and food packaging will further reduce food safety risks. Care should be taken to not allow soap, sanitizer or bleach absorb through packaging or touch food.

In light of the current COVID-19 outbreak, the Partnership for Food Safety Education 2021 Consumer Food Safety Education Conference will be an all virtual event March 9-12, 2021.

This conference brings together health and food safety educators with federal agencies and food businesses to help build education and programming for consumer food safety education.

Registration is now $129. See the CFSEC event website for details and registration.

Germs are invisible, they’re everywhere, and some can make you very sick. Germs can be in your food, on your hands, or even on kitchen utensils, cutting boards and counter tops. Luckily, there are steps you can take when you’re preparing food that lower your risk of getting a foodborne illness.

One easy way to remember these steps is to use a safe recipe while preparing food. Safe recipes include food safety steps, like washing your hands, that lower the risk of getting sick from harmful germs.

The Safe Recipe Activity targets middle school students and takes about 30 minutes to complete. It will teach you how to use the Safe Recipe Style Guide to turn a basic recipe into a safe recipe.