Home food preservation remains an important and popular cultural activity. It is critical that those who practice preserving and processing foods at home have access to the most reliable information available concerning food safety and food quality. The Cooperative Extension System (CES) and USDA have long been recognized as credible sources for science-based recommendations. Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state that home-canned vegetables are the most common cause of botulism outbreaks in the United States. From 1996 to 2014, there were 210 outbreaks of food borne botulism reported to the CDC. Of the 145 outbreaks that were caused by home-prepared foods, 43 outbreaks, or 30 percent, were from home-canned vegetables. However, developmental work on new or continued recommendations has been sporadic since the 1950s due to availability of resources and probably interested persons. Two national surveys conducted by the National Center for Home Food Preservation 2000 and 2005 both revealed a high percentage of home food processors are using practices that put them at high risk for foodborne illness and/or economic losses due to food spoilage. It is important for individuals to know and practice safe food handling behaviors to reduce risk of getting ill from contaminated food.

 In response, the Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agent in Kenton County conducted a 2 hands on food preservation workshops to teach proper and safe ways to preserve food using the hot water bath and the pressure canner methods, freezing, and dehydrating foods. A total of 14 participants learned how to make strawberry jam using the hot water bath method and used the pressure canner to preserve their own jar of tomatoes. At the end of the program, participants were able to take these products home with them. The agent also conducted learning activities so that participants could practice identifying high and low acid foods and the sequence of steps for canning methods.  Proper freezing and drying methods were also discussed.

None of the participants in the class had ever used either method of home canning on their own.  One-hundred percent of participants identified research based methods of home food preservation as a result of the program, differentiated between high and low acid foods, accurately prepared food products using the boiling water canning, pressure canning, and freezing method of preservation, and identified signs of spoilage in home canned foods. One participant reported an increase in skill level from beginner to intermediate in the method of freezing for food preservation. All participants either strongly agreed or agreed they had better skills in home food preservation methods as a result of attending the program.