Are you ready for World Food Safety Day?

June 3, 2019
By Bakers Journal

Image courtesy of the World Health Organization

World Food Safety Day on Friday, June 7 will draw global attention to the health consequences of contaminated food and water. The initiative was developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

  The Partnership for Food Safety Education is supporting health and food safety educators with resources to promote World Food Safety Day in their communities. Anyone who wants to participate in promoting consumer safe food handling leading up to World Food Safety Day is urged to start at foodsafetyday.org for free resources and an action pledge they can share on social media.  Free materials designed to educate and engage consumers on safe food preparation at home include:

Five social media graphics with important basic food safety steps:
Wash your hands using warm water and soap to reduce germs that cause food-borne illness.
Rinsing poultry is not a safety step. It spreads germs around your kitchen.
To reduce risk of illness, use separate cutting boards, one for produce and one for meat or poultry.
Cook food to a safe internal temperature as measured with a food thermometer.
Keep a constant refrigerator temperature of 40 °F or below.

Bakeries and restaurants can engage their clients with the following:

Interactive games and downloadable activity sheets for kids that make learning about food safety fun.
Social media posts and activities including a Facebook quiz.

#WorldFoodSafetyDay Twitter Party on Friday, June 7 at 1 p.m. EST with involvement of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; the U.S. Department of Agriculture; the non-profit Partnership for Food Safety Education, and dozens of health and food safety educators from across the country.

In addition to resources at fightbac.org and foodsafetyday.org, educators can access quality consumer education materials from these web pages of the U.S. Federal agencies:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: www.cdc.gov/foodsafety  Follow the non-profit Partnership for Food Safety Education on Facebook at @FightBAC and on Twitter at @Fight_BAC.