This article is from the Extension Connection newsletter, Summer 2005.

It used to be that you went to grocery stores to buy ingredients for home-cooked meals. Today you can zip into the grocery for salad, cashew chicken, green bean casserole or any number of entrees ready to be eaten on the spot or reheated at home.

To help grocers excel in their expanding role as restaurateurs, the Food Marketing Institute rolled out SuperSafeMark, a food safety program for grocery store and retail food managers. Iowa State University Extension is one of just four cooperative extension services to conduct training sessions for the national program.

SuperSafeMark is voluntary in Iowa; in some states grocers are required to become certified. Nevertheless, an effort is under way to certify as many Iowans as possible.

“Grocery stores are handling and serving more food now, and we want Iowans to be more confident that the grocers handling their food have the information they need to serve it safely,” said Dan Henroid, ISU Extension foodservice and lodging management specialist.

As of mid-May — just four months after the first training session was conducted — 125 participants had become accredited; the goal is 200 by year’s end.

While developing the training program, Henroid turned to the Iowa Grocery Industry Association (IGIA) to help tell grocers about the importance of SuperSafeMark. The association is using its newsletter, mail lists and other avenues to help market the training sessions.

“We obviously have an interest in training our members, so working with ISU Extension on SuperSafeMark made great sense,” said Jerry Fleagle, IGIA president. “The training is needed now more than ever, with food stores offering more and more products designed to be carried off-premises and served at home.”

Fleagle added, “We’re always interested in getting better at food safety training. Working with ISU Extension on SuperSafeMark is just another way to do that.”

For more information on SuperSafeMark, visit http://www.iowafoodsafety.org/.  

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