National Food Safety Education Month® 2008

Be Food Safe
Harmful Bacteria Can Make People Sick.

(Also available as poster (PDF, 476KB) and brochure (PDF, 662KB),
and en Español (Spanish) Panfleto (PDF, 669 KB))

Four Easy Lessons in Safe Food Handling

Did you know that in the United States each year...

...76 million cases of foodborne illness occur.
...more than 325,000 people are hospitalized for foodborne illness.
...5,000 people will die from foodborne illness.

Food handling safety risks at home are more common than most people think. The four easy lessons of Clean, Separate, Cook, and Chill can help prevent harmful bacteria from making your family sick.

Follow These Four Easy Steps To Help Your Family Be Food Safe.

Clean.

Wash hands, utensils, and cutting boards before and after contact with raw meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs.

Flyer: Be Food Safe. Clean.

Separate.

Keep raw meat and poultry apart from foods that won't be cooked.

Flyer: Be Food Safe. Separate.

Cook.

Use a food thermometer – you can’t tell food is cooked safely by how it looks.

Flyer: Be Food Safe. Cook.

hand holding a refrigerator thermometer at 40 degrees F.

Chill.

Chill leftovers and takeout foods within 2 hours and keep the fridge at 40 °F or below.

Flyer: Be Food Safe. Chill.

To find out more about food safety, visit befoodsafe.gov
Questions? Visit Ask Karen or call 1-888-MPHotline.

National Food Safety Education Month® is sponsored by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation's International Food Safety Council, an initiative focused on heightening the awareness of the importance of food safety education to the restaurant and foodservice industry and supported by many public and private sector organizations.