The North Central Food Safety Education Network is offering three sessions of Consumer Food Safety Education for Extension personnel, educators, and volunteers for their professional development or advanced training.
The three sessions include:
Register by scanning the QR code at right or at https://purdue.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bC6U6ofGnotx3vM
Fair season is almost here! Here are some reminders from the Kansas Department of Agriculture for serving food safely in food stands.
Learn more at https://bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/MF3472.pdf
Food safety messaging happens in many formats. One tool that can be helpful is using posters with simple messages.
For Kansas events, food safety posters are available to help remind workers and fair-goers that food safety is important. Topics covered include thawing food safely, using thermometers to check temperatures, keeping hot foods hot and cold foods cold, and finally, keeping raw foods separate from ready-to-eat foods.
Download these posters, laminated them and post in food handling areas. They are available at https://www.ksre.k-state.edu/foodsafety/topics/4h.html.
Don’t forget to put up posters in livestock areas to remind everyone to wash their hands!
Celebrate July 4th with the four steps to food safety!
Source: USDA Press Release
When preserving food, there are certain steps to take to be sure the food is safe after preserving. One of those steps is peeling produce. Why? Bottom line is food safety.
While the outside peels of many types of produce are nutritionally beneficial, those peels can hold onto microorganisms and dirt. Rinsing produce with water before peeling is the first step to remove microorganisms and dirt. Peeling physically removes that outer layer and drastically reduces contamination. After a final rinse with water, the food is ready to preserve.
Therefore, when a recipe says to peel the produce, it must be done. That recipe was developed and researched with that step included. Choosing to skip the peeling step can result in improperly processed food and spoilage.
Don’t let those peels go to waste! Save them to make a vegetable stock to freeze and use in soups and other recipes. Add them to your garden compost pile or feed your animals.
Source: National Center for Home Food Preservation
While a vegetable peeler or paring knife is useful to peel produce, for some foods there is an easier method.
For tomatoes, blanching them in hot water works well and less flesh is lost. Heat a large stockpot of water to boiling. Core tomatoes or poke the skin with a knife and place in the hot water for about 60 seconds or until the peel starts to pull away from the flesh. Remove them from the hot water and plunge them into an ice water bath to stop the cooking process. Gently rub the peel and it should slip off easily.
This method works well for fruits with thin skins such as peaches and nectarines.
Peeling produce is an important step to preserve food safely in all methods of food preservation.
The recently updated Kansas Garden Guide is an excellent resource for growing many kinds of produce in Kansas. But it is also a great resource for guidance on harvesting and storing your bountiful harvest.
In Chapter 13 of the Kansas Garden Guide, it guides you through the indicators of when to harvest produce including size, color and optimal harvest method. Preventing foodborne illness is key at this point due to presence of wildlife, personal hygiene or cross-contamination from dirty equipment. Some types of produce are best stored in the refrigerator, some can be at room temperature. Storage conditions of humidity and temperature also affect length of storage time.
Food standards save lives. This is the theme for World Food Safety Day is June 7, 2023. This is a day to promote food safety education to reduce foodborne illness.
The Partnership for Food Safety Education is hosting a webinar on “How to Market Your Food Safety Campaign on a Shoestring Budget.” This event is free but registration is required.
Resources, in English and Spanish, for promoting World Food Safety Day and more information can be found at https://foodsafetyday.org/about-world-food-safety-day/.
It is estimated that almost 1 in 10 people in the world get sick from eating contaminated food.
While fat or oil can enhance flavor and texture in many recipes, when it comes to canning, fat and oil can lead to food safety problems. There are very few recommendations to use fat or oil in home food preservation.
Research shows that fats and oils can surround bacterial spores, if present, and protect them from heat destruction. This allows them to survive in the jar of food.
In canning meat it is best to use the leanest meat possible. Fat can boil up during canning and interfere with the sealing compound of the lid. Use the proper amount of headspace for best results.
Do not add oil to home canned tomato sauces, salsa or marinated vegetables. Making flavored oils that contain herbs, garlic, peppers, etc. can provide favorable conditions for Clostridium botulinum to survive when stored at room temperature. Store these in the refrigerator.
Besides canning meat, poultry and fish, there are very few researched canning recipes that use oil. Learn more at www.rrc.k-state.edu/preservation/index.html.
Source: https://extension.psu.edu/caution-canning-with-fats-and-oils
Fair season is almost here! Here are some reminders from the Kansas Department of Agriculture for serving food safely in licensed food stands.
For 4-H food stands, see https://bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/MF3472.pdf
For more information, go to www.ksre.k-state.edu/foodsafety/topics/4h.html.