The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) tells us that although our food supply in the United States is safe, disease-causing pathogens contaminate food and can cause foodborne illness. Millions get sick, are hospitalized and even die from foodborne illness and infection each year. Since it is so serious, it is important for individuals to know and practice safe food handling behaviors to reduce risk of getting ill from contaminated food. The topic of food safety for consumers is a very important subject, but not one of interest to most as a stand-alone topic. Instructors needed to find creative ways to share information on this vital topic.

            In response, the Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agents in Kenton and Boone Counties teamed up for two programs. The first, “Mystery Dinner-the Uninvited Guest” was coordinated and taught in the fall of 2019 through the team of FCS agents in the Northern Kentucky area. Response from this dinner program was terrific, with 186 adult men and women learning the most common pathogens, their characteristics, how to prevent their growth and resulting illness. This program was reported on earlier, but has recently achieved new successes. The Mystery Dinner program won first place for innovative programming at the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences conference. Team members taught a session to Cooperative Extension personnel from across the country on this topic during this year’s virtual conference. In addition, the program was also submitted and approved for presentation at the national “Consumer Food Safety Education Conference” in March 2021.
Consumer Food Safety Education Conference was held on March 10 with nearly 20% (93) of the 500+ attendees attending the session and approximately 25 of those attendees requesting additional information and expressing desire to replicate this program.

            A second inventive food safety program was created and taught in fall 2020.  “Can your kitchen pass a food safety inspection?” was taught live and on-line to 31 adult men and women. With concerns for covid spread, the program was developed and filmed featuring several food safety vignettes for participants to review, evaluate, and discuss with FCS agents. A mail out survey was sent 3 months after the program and yielded the following results that can reduce foodborne illness risk:

-85% report no longer storing eggs on refrigerator door
-82% report cleaning or replacing kitchen towels and sponges more often
-76% report now wiping the tops of cans before opening to remove dirt
 -71% now understand that raw flour in unbaked product can cause foodborne illness

Many reported additional comments and tips they had learned and adopted since the program. “Entertaining”, “loved the vignettes”, and “there is more to food safety than I realized”, were just some of the remarks shared, illustrating that food safety education can be shared in a fun and creative way.