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NATIONAL FOOD SAFETY EDUCATION MONTH^SM 2002

September Promotion Emphasizes "Four Steps To Food Safety"

(City, State) 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. Four Steps To Food Safety is this year's theme for NFSEM. Educators will be working to increase public awareness of the invisible cause of foodborne illness—micro-organisms that may make food unsafe when the four basic messages, Clean, Separate, Cook, and Chill, are not followed. Listed below are Four Steps To Food Safety that we can take to help prevent foodborne illness in the home:

Clean! Everything that touches food should be clean. Cleanliness is a major factor in preventing foodborne illness. Even with food safety inspection and monitoring at Federal, State, and local government facilities, the consumers have the role of ensuring that food is handled safely after it is purchased.

Separate! Fight cross-contamination! Cross-contamination is the transfer of harmful bacteria to food from other foods, cutting boards, and utensils. An example of cross-contamination is cutting raw meat, poultry, or fish on a cutting board and then slicing salad vegetables on the same cutting board without washing the cutting board between uses.

Cook! Use a food thermometer in cooking. Using a food thermometer is the only way to tell if food has reached a high enough temperature to destroy harmful micro-organisms. Use a food thermometer to measure the internal temperature of foods, such as meat, hamburgers, poultry, egg casseroles, and any combination dishes to ensure that a safe temperature is reached and that harmful bacteria like Salmonella and Escherichia coli O157:H7 are destroyed.

Chill! Make sure the temperature in the refrigerator is 40 °F or below and 0 °F or below in the freezer. Use a refrigerator/freezer thermometer to check the temperature. Harmful bacteria grow most rapidly in the Danger Zone—the unsafe temperatures between 40 and 140 °F—so it's important to keep food out of this temperature range. Refrigerate or freeze perishables, prepared food, and leftovers within 2 hours of purchase or preparation, or within 1 hour if the temperature is above 90 °F. Thaw food in the refrigerator. For quick thawing, submerge in cold water in airtight packaging, or thaw in the microwave, and cook the food immediately.

To learn more about safe food handling, come to / call (NAME AND LOCATION OF EVENT / NAME AND TELEPHONE OF ORGANIZATION) for (ACTIVITIES AND / OR MATERIALS).

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