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United
States Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service Office of Policy, Program Development and Evaluation |
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USDA Food Safety Education
Overview
Although a number of agencies within USDA have food safety roles, four USDA agencies make important contributions to food safety education. These are the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), the National Agricultural Library (NAL), the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES) and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). Although the agencies do partner with each other to improve effectiveness, each of these agencies has its own program objectives and constituencies, and hopefully many of you already take advantage of their programs to assist you in you activities in your respective states. Let us begin our review with the FNS.
The Food and Nutrition Service
Among the FNS’s clients are the nation's school systems. FNS receives about $2 million a year from Congress to develop and deliver food safety education materials and training. I viewed the activities of the FNS as a priority indicator -- if you had $2 million to spend and your intended audience included 30 percent of people who are "at risk", mainly children from K through fourth-grade -- how would you allocate that money?
In fiscal years 1999 and 2000, the FNS received $2 million for developing and delivering food safety education materials and training for Child Nutrition Program cooperators. The authorization for food safety education funding specifically requires that the majority of funds be provided to the National Food Service Management Institute (NFSMI) which would, in cooperation with FNS, plan and execute food safety education projects. Of the $2 million, FNS retains a minor portion of funds to complete some short-term projects; NFSMI receives the majority of the funding to initiate short and long-term projects.
What is the NFSMI? The NFSMI is located at the University of Mississippi, Oxford campus, and its Applied Research Division operates in cooperation with University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. The mission of the NFSMI is to provide information and services that promote the continuous improvement of Child Nutrition Programs. The NFSMI takes its programs and services nationwide through workshops, teleconferences, audio conferences, and training packages. NFSMI was authorized by Congress in 1989 and permanently authorized in 1994. For more information on the NFSMI, its programs and initiatives, please go to their website at http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/nfsmi/index.html.
FNS projects fall under three headings - those that FNS takes on itself, those that NFSMI operates, and joint projects between the two organizations. FNS has three projects ongoing:
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FNS projects Serving it Safe: FNS
originally distributed this publication in 1996 and it was developed using
the 1993 Food Code. The publication was revised to concur with the
1999 Food Code and includes a review for accuracy by the Food and Drug
Administration. In November 1999, revised pages were sent out to the
original recipients of Serving it Safe. These were distributed
in November of 1999. Manager's Checklist (Tablet): The Serving it Safe publication contained a one-pager 'Manager Self-Inspection Checklist' with checkpoints that correspond to HACCP principles. This checklist was printed in a 3-hole punched, tear-off tablet for easy use by school food service managers. The tablets were made available to all schools, childcare sponsors and summer programs in December 2000. Distribution continues as orders are received.
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NFSMI projects
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Joint FNS and NFSMI Project Full Color Mini-posters: FNS and NFSMI worked to develop a series of 16 mini-posters for use in food preparation and food service areas. Some 96,000 were distributed in 2000 and are available at the NFSMI website at http://www.nfsmi.org/Information/postindx.htm. The posters include such titles as "Always wash hands"; "Keep hot foods HOT!" and "Use that thermometer." For further information on the FNS projects, visit its website http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns. In summary, the FNS and NFSMI help ensure food safety in our nation’s schools through training courses, reminder items, special HACCP recipes to be used in food preparation and cooking and even information on how to buy food in order to assure food safety. |
National Agricultural Library
The second USDA agency whose food safety education efforts should be highlighted is the NAL. NAL does not deliver programs to the local level; rather it is an information-based delivery program using the Internet. NAL hosts the USDA/FDA Foodborne Illness Education Information Center. (The Center is part of an interagency agreement between USDA and FDA.) In support of the Center, NAL finds and collects food safety educational materials, supports the foodborne illness education database, supports a database of HACCP training programs and resources, and maintains the Food Safety index database.
Two other NAL initiatives are an online Internet dialogue system known as Foodsafe and the Food Safety Training and Education Alliance for Retail, Food Service, Vending, Institutions and Retail (FSTEA) website. Foodsafe is an online, interactive discussion group for professionals interested in food safety issues. People use this site to share information on food safety education, exchange safe food preparation knowledge, discuss foodborne illness epidemiology, address strategies to modify unsafe food preparation behaviors, and network with other food safety specialists about effective food safety education methods. I urge each of you, if you have not already done so, to become members of Foodsafe. It provides an ongoing discussion of interest to food safety professionals. It can be easily accessed on the Internet by going to http://Listserv@listserv.nal.usda.gov.
FSTEA is an acronym for Food Safety Training and Education Alliance for Retail, Food Service, Vending, Institutions, and Retail. It is composed of members from government, industry, and academia wanting to improve food safety education. It intends to improve the availability of food safety information for retail, food service, vending, institutions, and regulators through information sharing and collaborative efforts. It is still a work in progress. It’s Web site has recently come online and can be accessed at http://www.fstea.org.
NAL therefore uses it specialized resources to support food safety education efforts through internet-based, readily available databases and online information exchange.
Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service
The third USDA agency that I wanted to discuss with you today is the CSREES. When it comes to funding food safety education, this agency has no peer. CSREES’ National Integrated Food Safety Initiative is a component of the Integrated Research, Education, and Extension Competitive Grants Program. This program is administered by the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service under Title IV, Section 406 of the Agriculture Research, Extension and Education Reform Act of 1998 (AREERA) (7 U.S.C. 7626). The National Integrated Food Safety Initiative replaces the Food Safety and Quality National Education Initiative and the Special Research Grant for Food Safety.
The purpose of the National Integrated Food Safety Initiative is to support competitive projects on priority food safety that require an integrated approach. Integrated food safety programs in CSREES support multi-state, multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary, and multi-functional research extension, and education activities. Special emphasis is given to research describing multi-functional activities (i.e., research that contains research, education, and extension components). The research component of the National Integrated Food Safety Initiative focuses on applied food safety research. The education component focus on education and training in a formal classroom setting, which may include elementary, secondary, or undergraduate or graduate education. The extension component addresses education training outside the classroom. Where there is no extension program, outreach activities to people in a variety of non-formal settings are appropriate.
In FY 2001, $13.6 million was allocated to this program. The open period for receiving grants applications closed on May 14, 2001. We will have to await an announcement of the selected projects.
The types of the priority issues that have been addressed under the National Integrated Food Safety Initiative include food handler education and training; HACCP model development, testing and implementation; integrating food safety into related agriculture programs; and control methods for foodborne microbiological pathogens. Examples of past awards include: North Carolina State – "Development of Multilevel Food Safety Education in the Retail Food Industry"; Texas A&M – "Food Safety Education for Retail Employees"; New Mexico State – "Fight BACä ! Outreach to Hard-to-Reach Audiences"; and the University of Connecticut -- "Food Handler Education and Training for Hispanic Consumers and Youths". These awards have averaged about $300,000 each.
CSREES has been an important partner in food safety education. Cooperative extension in more than 21 states has partnered with restaurant associations, industry, health departments, and community colleges to teach ServeSafe, a 16-hour safe handling workshop/certification program developed by the National Restaurant Association’s Educational Foundation. More than 12,000 food professionals trained annually insure that safe food is served at local restaurants, school cafeterias, hospitals, institutions, and catering services.
Food Safety and Inspection Service
I have saved the discussion of my own agency’s food safety education activities until last. The FSIS carries out its food safety education under three headings: Consumer food safety education campaigns, Outreach and partnership activities, and Publications and Web sites.
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Consumer Food Safety Education Campaigns |
The Thermometer Education Campaign – The Thermy™ campaign is a national consumer education initiative developed by the FSIS. The goal of this campaign is to increase the use of food thermometers by consumers. FSIS wants to help consumers accomplish what they intend to-cook their food safely and cook it to the very highest quality, so that it is tasty and juicy. The only way consumers can really know when food is safely cooked-and not overdone-is to use a food thermometer. One of the Healthy People 2010 goals is to promote the use of food thermometers over the next ten years. The new edition of USDA’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans (2000) includes, for the first time, a guideline on food safety. These guidelines include the recommendation to use a food thermometer. Information on the dietary guidelines can be assessed at: http://www.nalusda.gov/fnic/dga.
Thermometer companies and grocery chains nationwide are key initial cooperators that will help to get Thermy™ in the public eye at the retail sector. The Food Temperature Indicator Association (FTIA), along with many other thermometer companies, have made thermometers and temperature indicators more accessible and user-friendly for consumers. Thermometer manufacturers and distributors are putting Thermy™ art on floor and counter signage for display in grocery, kitchens and department stores. The Food Marketing Institute and many grocery chains have partnered with USDA to host Thermy™ kickoff events.
Cooking for Groups: A Volunteer's Guide to Food Safety: A third campaign, or at least an education effort that I am calling a campaign, is known as Cooking For Groups: A Volunteer's Guide to Food Safety. The goal of this campaign is to help volunteers prepare and serve food safely for large groups such as family reunions, church dinners and community gathering. In these instances, food may be prepared at the event, or prepared at a volunteer’s home and brought to the event and then served to the gathering. FSIS’ Food Safety Education Staff has prepared a special guide and video. I urge you to review them. Use them in your outreach activities. The FSIS Web site includes a downloadable version of the brochure and a downloadable video clip. This is the kind of support that the FSIS Food Safety Education Staff provides to those in public and private organizations. AFDO’s Meat and Poultry Committee has long been concerned about this issue and endorses FSIS’ materials for use by its members.
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Food Safety Outreach and Partnerships |
FSIS is also working through the 1890, 1994, and Hispanic colleges and universities to educate those hard to reach producers to explain how food safety concerns are affecting the market place for their product. The implementation of HACCP/Pathogen reduction-related process requirements by meat and poultry processing plants is resulting in more producers having to demonstrate to plant owners that animals intended for food use were raised using production practices which avoid illegal residues and reduce harmful pathogens.
FSIS is just beginning to develop state partnerships directed toward food safety activities at retail. The FY 2001 goal is to have 10 state retail education partnerships, 5 outreach agreements with municipal agencies, and 7 outreach partnerships with the 1890, 1994, Hispanic, Asian schools to address both rural and urban food safety training and education needs at retail. The goal of these partnerships will be to provide education tools and support for sanitarians involved in inspection of retail stores and restaurants and to support the education of the operators of small retail and food service establishments in the targeted communities.
AFDO Train-the-Trainer: In addition, FSIS has entered into a cooperative agreement with AFDO to provide training on meat and poultry processing at retail. This program will use the train-the-trainer model developed for the seafood HACCP training initiative. Funding will be provided to train one trainer in each state who will then be responsible for training other sanitarians in the state on recognizing and addressing meat and poultry processing hazards. The training is also open to industry attendees. Our state meat and poultry inspection programs will also be involved in this training.
Regulator Hotline: FSIS also maintains the Interagency Regulators Information Line. Its number is 1-800-233-3935. This Line will take the caller – any food regulatory official with a technical or policy question on meat, poultry, or egg products -- into FSIS's Technical Center located in Omaha, Nebraska and will enable the caller to talk to the same subject matter experts that FSIS field inspectors rely on.
TEC 2001: In the near future you will hear about an FSIS report known as "TEC 2001". Possibly some of you have participated in its preparation. In this report, FSIS will catalogue the needs of its inspection program staff and the needs of our related constituencies. After a thorough analysis, FSIS education funding and emphasis is expected to dramatically change. Development of the Food Safety University concept may be one of the outcomes.
Food Safety University: FSIS provides training to its inspectors and cooperative state meat and poultry inspection program inspectors through course information made available at the Agency’s Web-based (virtual university) site. FSIS and other federal regulatory agencies involved in food safety recognize that food safety education will be more important in the future. Therefore, we are cooperating with the Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on development of a Food Safety University (FSU). The concept of the FSU is to integrate the training activities of the four agencies, making food-safety related training by each agency available to the personnel of all four agencies and to personnel of state and local agencies. Gary German of FDA's Office of Regulatory Affairs will provide further details about this concept. We believe that the FSU will be important both to our inspection program, as well as other public health agencies that share the food safety mission.
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Publications and Websites |
This completes a quick overview of the food safety education activities at the USDA. Each of these agencies within USDA provides money for food safety education activities. However, all partner and work with each other, other government agencies and public/private organizations to better utilize resources to develop and support food safety education activities nationwide.
Thank you for the opportunity to present the many facets of USDA's support for food safety education.
