The 2025 Consumer Food Safety Education Conference will be March 13-14, 2025 in Houston, TX. This is the only conference dedicated to consumer food safety education. It is hosted by the Partnership for Food Safety Education.
The conference brings together federal, non-profit, higher education and industry professionals together to address today’s food safety challenges.
Registration is now open and more conference details will be announced soon.
Global Handwashing Day is October 15, 2024. Why is this important? Handwashing with soap and water is one of the simplest, most effective ways to stop the spread of germs and stay healthy. Keeping hands clean can help prevent diarrheal illnesses and respiratory infections, such as the common cold or flu.
In five easy steps, you can help prevent the spread of germs and disease.
Learn more at https://www.cdc.gov/clean-hands/about/index.html.
It’s that time of year for harvest, family reunions, July 4th parties, camping and more! Don’t invite foodborne illness to your party! Here are some tips for a perfect picnic:
Learn more at www.ksre.k-state.edu/foodsafety/topics/outdoor.html
County fairs are almost here! As you plan to hire judges, please pass along to these judgeing tools to help them be an educated judge. Many resources can be found at https://www.rrc.k-state.edu/judging/index.html.
In particular, a new tool is available for contestants to calculate frosting and filling recipes for safety. This worksheet can be found at https://bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/item/frostings-and-fillings-worksheet_4H1171.
Encourage judges to review the videos and resources to learn more details about judging food exhibits. This also includes judging food preservation exhibits. Sometimes a foods judge will also judge food preservation. There are scorecards to help guide them in judging food preservation.
An educated and knowledgable judge can be a key partner in educating all exhibitors!
As county fair season approches, plan now to keep food safety in mind at fair food stands, judging food and food preservation exhibits, and handling animals.
Operating temporary food stands can be a challenge with lots of food stand workers and handling food safely. Post handwashing signs by sinks or other food preparation areas, as well as bathrooms. This is the most critical step in safe food handling. Never handle ready-to-eat foods with bare hands. Use gloves or utensils instead.
Animals of many kinds are always present at fairs. Besides handwashing after handling animals, don’t eat or drink around animals. Keep an eye on children interacting with animals and keep their hands and fingers out of their mouths.
Learn more at KSRE Extension 4-H Events and Food Safety.
Power outages happen for various reasons. Severe weather can certainly be a top cause. The challenge is deciding what food is safe to keep or what should be tossed.
First of all, some general guidelines:
Here are some resources to help guide you to make safe choices:
More information can be found at the KSRE Extension Food Safety website on Disasters and Power Outages.
Gathering friends and family is fun, but beware of uninvited party guests. Foodborne germs can crash your buffet and make people sick with food poisoning. When cooking, preparing, or serving food for large groups, follow these steps to keep food safe.
Learn more at https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/serving-food-safely.html.
Did you miss out on the Field-to-Fork webinars offered by North Dakota State University Extension? You are in luck! The recordings are all available.
Take an hour break and listen to these webinars which are focused on growing, preparing, preserving and selling vegetables and fruits. They are a multidisiplinary, multi-state effort to get experitise. Along with the 2024 webinars, there are recordings from previous years.
All food, just like everything else in the world, is made of chemicals. What is important to remember is how much of a chemical is in food AND how much a person eats or drinks. Bottom line, it’s the amount that counts. Foods contain nutrients, which are chemicals and are important for a healthy, balanced diet.
Reading or hearing about chemicals in food, when combined with words like “toxic,” “extremely dangerous” and “cancer-causing” may be scary, especially if you aren’t getting all the facts.
Here are a few points to help you navigate information about chemicals in food:
You have choices to make. Eat a variety of nutrient-dense foods to have a well balanced diet.
Learn more at https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/food-safe-if-it-has-chemicals
Summer is almost here, but many grills are already getting a work out! Here are some tips for successful grilling.