According the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC), each year one in six people in the U. S. get sick from contaminated foods. Food safety pamphlets provide essential information on how to keep yourself and your family safe from contaminating organisms, toxins and chemicals in food.
Food Safety Education
Food safety education and practice reduces the risk for illness or death from food related diseases and promotes individual, family, community, and public health. This list of food safety pamphlets can educate adults and children on many aspects of food safety, such as proper hygiene and food handling, food preparation and storage, and what's in your food.
Overview of Food Safety
These three pamphlets give a general overview of the basics of selecting, handling, storing, and preparing food safely.
- Be Food Safe from United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Be F ood Safe campaign covers four aspects of food safety at home: clean, separate, cook, chill. You can print or download an additional pamphlet on each of the four steps for more details.
- Five Keys to Safer Food summarizes the World Health Organization's five key habits you should practice for food safety.
- Food Safety from the Thurston County Food Safety Coalition in Washington State gives a useful overview of food safety while shopping, handling, storing, thawing, preparing, cooking, and serving food.
Handling and Storage
Hand-washing and proper handling and storage of fresh produce, meats, and other foods will decrease the risk of bacterial growth and cross contamination.
- Proper Care and Handling of Fruits and Vegetables gives information on the selection, transportation, storage, preparation, and serving of fruits and vegetables from Penn State's College of Agricultural Science.
- ProducePro from the Partnership for Food Safety Education, which includes food safety government agencies and consumers, explains the science behind the safety tips on fruits and vegetables.
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Safety Tips for Handling and Preparing Common Foods from the CDC gives an overview on the proper handling and preparation of meats, seafood, dairy, eggs, and vegetables.
Cold Storage
Inadequate cooling of meats, dairy, leftovers, and other perishables allow bacteria to flourish. Keep your refrigerator below 40° Fahrenheit (4° Centigrade) and the freezer below 0° Fahrenheit (-18° Centigrade) to keep cold foods cold.
- Go 40 or Below pamphlet from the Partnership for Food Safety Education provides information on the safe refrigeration, freezing and defrosting of foods
- Keeping Food Safe When the Power Goes Out from Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences gives information on refrigerator and freezer safety and what to do in a power outage
Cooking and Holding
Cooking food and holding it at the right temperature while waiting to serve it kills infectious organisms or keep them from increasing. Keep hot foods hot.
- Safe Minimum Cooking Temperature from the FoodSafety.gov website, a link to United States federal food safety information, lists the minimum cooking temperatures for meat, pork, poultry, seafood, eggs, and leftovers.
- Is it Done Yet from the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reviews how to cook meat to the right temperature and tell when it's done.
- Grill it Safe from the USDA contains steps for the safe grilling of meats, poultry, and fish.
- Cooking to the Proper Temperature in Microwave Ovens by Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and ConAgra Foods gives tips on ensuring food safety when cooking by microwave oven.
Eating Outside Your Home
Safe food practices continue outside your home, whether you are at a restaurant or a picnic, or tail-gating, camping or boating.
- Protect Yourself When Eating Out from the CDC has four food safety tips for when you are eating out at a restaurant.
- Lunch Box Safety from the The Center for Health and Hygiene in the Home and Community has tips on preparing and keeping lunches from home safe.
- Food Safety Tailgating Tips is a downloadable pamphlet from Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences on safely preparing and packing, grilling, and serving food at a tailgate gathering. You can also order the two page pamphlet online.
Food Handlers
These pamphlets provide essential education for food handlers who can be a source of foodbo rne illnesses when they fail to follow basic food safety procedures.
- Food Safety for Food Workers, developed by the Massachusetts Partnership for Food Safety Education for food service managers and food handlers, gives detailed tips on food safety including personal hygiene, cleaning, food preparation, cooking, and serving.
- How to Sanitize by Hand, which gives details on the proper cleaning and sanitizing of work surfaces, equipment, pots, dishes and other serving items, is also provided by the Massachusetts Partnership for Food Safety Education.
- Keeping Pests Out, another pamphlet from the Massachusetts Department of Food Safety Education teaches food handlers to keep pests, which spread germs, out of the kitchen.
The Foodborne Organisms Toxins and Chemicals
Food safety awareness should also include information on the many bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites, the naturally occurring toxins and the approved additives and preservatives that enter the food supply. The following pamphlets give an overview the organisms and additives.
- Foodborne Illness-Causing Organisms in the U. S. is a chart prepared by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the common foodborne organisms, their food sources, and the illnesses they cause.
- Antibiotic Resistance from Farm to Table from the CDC is a summary of how feeding antibiotics to farm animals leads to the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and increases the risk of food-borne infections.
- Food Ingredients and Colors from the International Food Information Council Foundation is a well-done eight page brochure that summarizes the substances added to foods in the U. S., as well as the safety oversight by the Food and Drug Administration.
Global Public Health
Taking responsibility for food safety promotes personal, family, community and global public health. Use th ese food safety pamphlets to understand what's in your food and how to reduce the risk of food-borne illnesses.
