Our Mission

The purpose of National Food Safety Education Month^SM (NFSEM) is to focus public attention on foodborne illness and the safe food handling practices consumers can follow to stay healthy. You may already be involved in similar or related education and information activities that are ongoing throughout the year, but we hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to expand your program to include NFSEM and this year’s theme, Be Cool—Chill Out! Refrigerate Promptly.

Listed below are some NFSEM promotions that we hope will be helpful. We have included in this Planning Guide some reproducible tools to help you bring the NFSEM message to your community: media materials and food safety information, suggested activities, logos, and artwork. All of these tools are available at the Web site www.FoodSafety.gov/September. Borrow some of these ideas or be creative and try out your own ideas. Also, think about extending your reach by partnering with other food safety educators in your community. Please let us know what you do by completing and sending us the feedback form at the back of this Guide.

Getting the Message Out Where People Are

Shopping malls, supermarkets, senior and community centers, schools and libraries, daycare centers, health fairs, community and youth organizations, recreational events, hospitals and HMO's are good places for disseminating NFSEM information.

1) Set up an NFSEM exhibit in a shopping mall, supermarket, community center, or at a health fair. Partner with a youth, student, or community organization to staff the exhibit and distribute copies of the Fight BAC!^TM brochures, fact sheets, and the food safety activities you’ll find in this Planning Guide. Consider asking a computer retailer to lend you equipment for demonstrating how to access NFSEM and other food safety information on the Internet.

2) Partner with schools, libraries, and senior and community centers to display and distribute copies of the NFSEM materials in this Guide. If possible, incorporate a computer demonstration of how to access the materials.

3) Speak to senior groups about the special importance of food safety for older persons because of their heightened susceptibility to severe foodborne illness as a result of age or underlying chronic conditions.

4) Partner with schools in your community to hold coloring contests. Copy the coloring pages in this Guide or have students visit the Web site at www.FoodSafety.gov for other kids' pages. Encourage local businesses to reward contest winners with certificates, plaques, or ribbons.

5) Arrange for an NFSEM exhibit at health-related local races/walks/bike rides during the month.

6) Mail NFSEM materials to daycare center directors and encourage them to reproduce and distribute these materials to parents or use the information in center newsletters.

7) Encourage WIC clinic or daycare center directors to demonstrate the importance of refrigerating food quickly. Invite a local chef from a restaurant or community college. Include partners from the health department or public health students from a university. Sponsor a Be Cool—Chill Out! Refrigerate Promptly Day, and ask daycare center directors to invite parents of young children to participate. Give away coloring pages and crayons for children and distribute the materials in this Guide.

8) Encourage local elementary schools to hold a "Kids Be Cool. Chill Out" Day. Contact your local chapter of the American Culinary Federation's Chef and Child Foundation for chefs who volunteer in schools. Offer poster and essay contests with BAC awards on the importance of food safety. Kids generally help out in the kitchen at home. Invite parents to demonstrate with their children the importance of keeping raw foods separate from ready-to-eat foods.

9) Contact your local or state representative of the National Restaurant Association and talk about how you can work together to celebrate NFSEM.

10) Send the NFSEM press release to school foodservice directors, encouraging reproduction and distribution to students.

11) Partner with local Girl Scout/Boy Scout troops to offer a special ribbon, medal, or certificate to scouts involved in activities promoting the NFSEM theme.

Getting the Message Out Through the Media

Television, radio, and print media are the most effective way of getting food safety information before large numbers of people. Typically, local media want to be involved with the communities they serve, especially regarding health issues. Many food-related businesses—e.g., food retailers and restaurants—are already actively involved in NFSEM and are potential sponsors for media initiatives.

1) Distribute the public service announcements in this Guide to radio stations in your community and ask that they be broadcast at various times of the day during NFSEM.

2) Encourage local television stations to use the NFSEM and Fight BAC!^TM logos and artwork in this Guide or from the Web site and use the public service announcements as scripts to promote NFSEM.

3) Send the press release and the reproducible NFSEM artwork in this Guide to local newspapers, journals, and magazines with a request that they cover NFSEM. Inquire about a special newspaper insert or supplement for NFSEM. Some papers will print one supplement free per month for various causes, while others will sell ad space in the supplement to offset printing costs.

4) Advertise NFSEM on your local food channel by having the theme Be Cool—Chill Out! Refrigerate Promptly, scrolled (words moving across the bottom of the screen) and include messages about food safety. Local food retailers or restaurants may be interested in sponsoring the messages. Contact the local cable TV station's advertising staff early to negotiate a rate, create the text, and produce the message.

Partner with local media and businesses to cosponsor:

• Spelling contests for elementary and middle school students using words relating to food safety and foodborne diseases;

• Poster contests with entries exhibited in school cafeterias or homerooms; and

• Essay contests on the theme, Be Cool—Chill Out! Refrigerate Promptly. All participants could receive recognition favors, such as Fight BAC!^TM pencils or erasers to "rub out" BAC! Winners could receive media recognition, certificates or plaques, and prizes donated by the sponsors.
  

5) In partnership with a local newspaper and a local restaurant, run a coloring contest using the coloring pages in this Guide. Children could submit entries either to the restaurant or to the newspaper. Entries could be displayed in the restaurant, along with prizes for the winners.

6) Many newspapers have sections targeted to children. Work with dailies or weeklies in your area to feature NFSEM and the children’s food safety materials in this Guide in their kids’ pages.