"The Story of Your Dinner" Highlights Food Safety from Farm to Fork

The non-profit Partnership for Food Safety Education and food industry sponsors team up to raise awareness about simple actions to reduce risk of foodborne illness.
Photo by: Divily

This holiday season millions of Americans will be cooking -- or eating -- a special holiday feast with family and friends. To support these home cooks in getting a safe and healthy meal on the table, the Partnership for Food Safety Education (PFSE) offers "The Story of Your Dinner" consumer education campaign.

"With so many home cooks planning to prepare large meals over the holidays, coupled with the fact that one in six people become sick from a foodborne illness each year, this is the best time for reminders about the importance of safe food handling for good health," said Shelley Feist, PFSE executive director. "We're excited to tell 'The Story of Your Dinner' and to showcase the many food safety steps taken -- from farm and processing to retail and, finally, in the home kitchen -- to safely prepare food for our loved ones."

At StoryOfYourDinner.org, the campaign stresses the importance of the "Core Four" Fight BAC!® home food safety practices:

• Clean: Wash hands and surfaces often.
• Separate: Don't cross-contaminate.
• Cook: Cook to the safe internal temperature.
• Chill: Refrigerate or freeze promptly.

Useful at-home tips will be shared through the following:

• The short, animated Story of Your Dinner Video explores the 'chain of prevention' from farm, processing and retail, to safety tips that are important to get dinner on the table at home.
• Activity placemats for children feature food safety fun facts, and can be downloaded by parents and printed at home.
• Recipes for holiday dishes, complete with food safety steps, have been created by participating Southeastern food bloggers.
• A "Turkey Hand in Health" sweepstakes illustrates the consumer's "hand" in helping prevent foodborne illness. Sweepstakes prizes include high-value grocery gift cards.
• A Twitter Party highlighting holiday food safety basics will take place Nov. 16 at 4 p.m. EST at Twitter.com/Fight_BAC with prizes from campaign sponsors, including a turkey basket and gift cards.
• Follow PFSE's social media channels, Facebook.com/FightBAC, Twitter.com/Fight_BAC, YouTube.com/BACFighter and https://www.instagram.com/pfse.fightbac, for helpful food safety tips and healthy holiday ideas throughout the season.

Learn about food safety and find educational materials at StoryOfYourDinner.org.

"The Story of Your Dinner" is a pilot project focused on reaching Southeastern audiences, including people from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Campaign sponsors, who demonstrate a collective commitment to engaging Americans on the importance of food safety, include Cargill, Coca-Cola, the Frozen Food Foundation, Nestlé USA and Publix Super Markets.