Food Safety  

Foodborne illness is a common, costly-yet preventable, public health problem. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1 in 6 Americans get sick from contaminated foods or beverages each year, and 3,000 die. Using the Healthy Choices for Every Body curriculum, the Menifee County SNAP-ED Assistant taught the lesson, “Keep Foods Safe” to 8  enrolled families at the Project Worth Food Pantry.  This lesson about food safety practices is one of the seven required lessons of the Healthy Choices for Every Body curriculum.   As a result,   all participants showed an increase in knowledge about food safety practices as follows:  100% of the participants showed improvement in one or more food safety practices by washing hands before preparing food; by washing all items and surfaces after cutting raw meats or seafood; not thawing frozen food at room temperature; and now using meat thermometers to check if meat is cooked to a safe temperature.