March 29, 2001

Grassroots Food Safety Education Initiatives

This year's grassroots food safety education projects emphasize cultural diversity, populations highly susceptible to foodborne illness, and new FDA food safety priorities. Twenty projects proposed by FDA Public Affairs Specialists (PAS'S) across the nation have been funded by FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition's (CFSAN).

Now in its fourth year, the PAS Food Safety Education Project Award Program has conveyed vital food safety information to key local audiences such as WIC coordinators; hospital, nursing home, day care and church food service personnel; and trainers from a wide range of local agencies serving multicultural populations. In addition, participating PAS's and their partners from other Federal or state and local agencies have used a variety of innovative and effective means to deliver food safety education.

Selected in cooperation with FDA's Office of Regulatory Affairs, the 2001 projects--the majority of which incorporate FDA's new information on Listeria and methylmercury in fish--demonstrate a wide range of approaches to grassroots food safety education--

Three focus on children:

• Food safety games and prizes at community festivals in the Los Angeles area;
• Exhibits at elementary schools and supermarkets in the southeast US; and,
• A 4th grade coloring/caption contest in Chicago-area schools.

Seven are train-the trainer programs, targeting professionals who work with:

• The approximately 300,000 Arabic-speakers in the Detroit metropolitan area;
• Consumers in western New York re listeria, methylmercury and food safety for seniors;
• Long-term care facility patients in Wyoming;
• WIC clients in Chicago re methylmercury awareness;
• Seniors in Florida
• New Jersey consumers with bilingual exhibit materials re fish and seafood safety; and,
• Native Americans in Texas.

Eight are direct community education initiatives:

• State fair exhibits in Colorado, Maryland and Indiana; and,
• Bilingual food safety workshops, materials and/or exhibits in south Florida, New York City, North Carolina, greater Cincinnati and northern Kentucky, and Puerto Rico.

And two concern food service worker training:

• Reproduction, to meet the numerous requests from across the nation, of the training kit developed last year in Cleveland for Chinese restaurant personnel; and
• Training workshops for food service workers and WIC staffs in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Hypertext updated by cjm 2001-APR-02