2002 Annual Report Edition of The Extension Connection
Consumer food safety depends on careful handwashing and accurate information, proclaimed an ISU Extension display at the 2002 Farm Progress Show.
Foodservice workers participate in hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) systems training.
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Last update: February 2003
Food safety education reaches Iowa and beyond
Personal safety issues, including food safety, are at
the forefront of Americans' minds. Iowa State University Extension’s
food safety effort aims to ease some of these concerns and is an example
of how extension programs are changing as new societal issues arise.
An ISU Extension Web site communicates food safety information (www.extension.iastate.edu/foodsafety) that can reduce consumers’ risk of foodborne illness. World Wide Web Health Awards calls the site “one of the best health-based sites for consumers and professionals.”
Now ISU Extension has launched a new food
safety “virtual reference desk,” www.foodsafetyanswers.org,
for frequently asked questions (FAQs) called Ask a Food Safety Expert.
The site has answers to recurring food safety questions as well as seasonal
and incident-related food safety issues.
“Foodsafetyanswers.org gives an answer to a specific question and
then provides up to five additional related questions/answers,” said
Dan Henroid, project director and ISU Extension specialist.
Two more projects focus on developing and putting into place mentoring
models for implementing food safety standards and hazard analysis critical
control point (HACCP) systems in school foodservice and assisted living
facilities.
Forty school districts have received an initial assessment, ServSafe®
training for up to five employees per school and HACCP training for the
school foodservice district director and one manager.
“These trainings reassure our staff, students and parents that we
are doing everything we can to serve wholesome, safe food,” said
Suzanne West, Estherville School foodservice director. “The training
alerted us and made us aware of food safety as we work.”
Jeff Reeves, foodservice director at Webster City schools, said, “In
order to be HACCP certified, we must have policies and procedures in place
and documentation showing that we are following them. The materials and
CD-ROM that ISU provided with our training will make it much simpler for
me to prepare the paperwork.”
To support this project, all ISU Extension nutrition and health field
specialists were trained to teach the National Restaurant Association
Educational Foundation’s ServSafe® food safety training course.
They trained 175 school employees during summer 2002. Ninety percent of
those employees passed the test and received a five-year ServSafe®
certification.
Another project is researching the food safety practices of those living in and providing foodservice for assisted living facilities. “The elderly are a vulnerable group to foodborne illness,” said Jeannie Sneed, a project investigator and ISU associate professor. “Through this project we will identify the food safety issues that need to be addressed.”
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ServeSafe® and HACCP training sessions "reassure our staff, students and parents that we are doing everything we can to serve wholesome, safe food.” – Suzanne West