August 22, 2001

September is National Food Safety Education Month^sm (NFSEM), an annual observance to focus attention on the importance of safe food handling and preparation in both home and commercial kitchens. Created by the foodservice industry in 1995, NFSEM is widely supported by federal, state, and local government agencies, the food industry, and consumer organizations.

Be Cool. Chill Out -- Refrigerate Promptly is this year's theme for NFSEM. Bacteria grow most rapidly in the Danger Zone -- the unsafe temperatures between 40 °F and 140 °F -- so it's important to keep foods out of this temperature range. In addition, cold temperatures keep most harmful bacteria from growing; therefore, refrigerating foods quickly is key!

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have designed this year's NFSEM Consumer Education Planning Guide to help health educators promote food safety education both this September and all year long. The Planning Guide is a compendium of food safety education ideas, reproducible teaching materials, and resource information. Hard copies have been distributed widely to FDA field staff, USDA extension agents, state and local health agencies, school food supervisors and school nurses. All of the Planning Guide materials are available on the web at http://www.foodsafety.gov/september.html where a link is also available to the NFSEM Planning Guide for Retail Food Establishments of the National Restaurant Association Education Foundation's International Food Safety Council.

Food Safety Initiative Staff E-mail: chall@cfsan.fda.gov	Office Number: (202) 260-8920 · FAX (202) 260-9653 CFSAN Web site: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/

Hypertext updated by dav 2001-AUG-27