National Food Safety Month for businesses
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EmailCelebrate National Food Safety Month with food safety training.
The month of September is National Food Safety Month. Nationally, this month is sponsored by the National Restaurant Association and several corporate sponsors. On a retail level, businesses can visit the Food Safety Month website page and pick up materials to help promote food safety in their organizations.
Topics include:
- What is food safety?
- Handwashing
- The role of food safety training
- Time and temperature control
It is important to remember food safety training is an ongoing process, not a one and done session. Food safety training can be done in many venues, presentations, posters, demonstrations, videos and more! Be sure to document all trainings that you do for your staff.
Foodborne illnesses are a preventable and underreported public health issue. They can contribute to the cost of health care. Anyone can get a foodborne illness. Training may be a key step in keeping your staff and patrons safe.
It is important to handle all food safely, as some people are more susceptible to getting a foodborne illness than others. You cannot tell who is more susceptible by just looking at them, so treat all is if they are. According to HealthyPeople.gov:
- Children younger than 4 have the highest incidence of laboratory-confirmed infections from some foodborne pathogens, including campylobacter, cryptosporidium, salmonella, shiga toxin-producing escherichia coli 0157, shigella, and yersinia.
- People older than age 50 and those with reduced immunity are at greater risk for hospitalizations and death from intestinal pathogens commonly transmitted through foods.
Foodborne illness can be very damaging to a business, both by ruining a reputation and by the financial cost associated with the outbreak. Best practices are to make sure your facility does everything possible to handle food safely and prevent this from happening. Make Food Safety Month a celebration of the hard work you do to serve safe food to your consumers. Keeping food safe promises healthier and longer lives and a stronger food industry.
Michigan State University Extension offers ServSafe training, and also offers a free online food safety training for food service workers.
