According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, one in five households in the United States practice home canning. The Center for Disease Control has stated that 30 percent of botulism cases from the past decade was caused by home canning practices. As by popular demand in the county and the Floyd County Extension Council, the Floyd County Family & Consumer Science Agent held multiple food preservation hands-on workshops for the fifth year in a row for 40 individuals. As opposed to the 2020 season, the Floyd County Family & Consumer Science program was able to host the workshops in person instead of virtually for the 2021 season. The workshops consisted of two pressure canning and two water boiling canning workshops. Food safety was the main topic of discussion throughout the entire workshop. Hand washing, safe food handling, pounds of pressure, and time was highly emphasized. Participants were able to do hands-on learning by canning their very own product. The water boiling workshops processed salsa and the pressure canning workshop processed green beans.

Surveys indicated that 95 percent of participants were considered themselves a beginner in pressure canning and 62 percent considered themselves a beginner in water boiling canning. Based on the surveys 100 percent of those that attended claimed the program helped them in the following:

1. Identify safe, research-based methods of home preservation.
2. Understood the difference between a high and low acid foods.
3. Identify the correct methods of canning for high and low acids foods.
4. Gained better skills in food preservation methods.
5. Can identify the necessary equipment for home food preservation.
6. Can accurately prepare food and containers for home food preservation.
7. Can identify sign of spoilage in home preserved foods.

In the beginning of the class the Family & Consumer Science Agent asks the participants to go around to room to discuss three topics: their name, family history of canning, and why they were there that day. One participant shared with the class that she had been attending the Floyd County Family & Consumer science Agent’s food preservation workshops since 2016 and this workshop is what go her started in food preservation and what helped her gain confidence in canning. She went on to explain that she attends these classes each year to refresh her memory in proper canning techniques and learns something new every year.