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About Us
County Impact Statements - Lafayette County
Extension Helps Families Learn to "Fight Bac" through Food Safety
Programs
Each year, between 8 and 80 million people in the U.S. suffer from foodborne
illness. Many of these outbreaks can be traced to food eaten in food service
establishments or at occasional events. Foodborne disease may be life
threatening, may trigger chronic diseases, and is extremely costly.
The food at occasional activities is frequently prepared by volunteers and in
many instances, no one working with food preparation or service has experience
in food service for large groups. Although volunteers working at occasional
activities may regularly prepare food for themselves and their families, it is
important that they become aware of the unique requirements of preparing food
for large numbers of other people.
The Lafayette County Extension Service provided educational workshops,
special interest meetings, newsletters, and educational displays on the topics
of food sanitation and safety. Programs conducted in FY01 included Food Safety
for Volunteers, Germbusters-Washing Hands (4-H school program), Food Safety
–Preparing for Disasters, Food Safety for Farm Workers, Storing Food
Safely-Childcare Providers, Food Safety for Head Start Parents, Family Nutrition
Education Program food safety programs, and ServSafe food sanitation
certification program for restaurant managers and other food service workers.
One participant stated "After sixty years of preparing food for my family I
thought I couldn’t learn much more. Extension has taught me that I was probably
leaving my food out of refrigeration too long. The "flu bug" that my family
occasionally gets could really be foodborne illness."
Restaurant managers and foodservice personnel participate in the
"ServSafe" certification Extension program
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Impacts
- 117 participated in educational meetings or short courses related to
sanitation and safety in food handling.
- 205 people reached through food safety awareness activities,
demonstrations or manned displays.
- 48 new participants in leadership or volunteer programs working with
food safety.
- 15 trained through ServSafe program, 13 passed certification.
- 68 attended child care provider training and reported increased
knowledge of safety in food handling.
- 87% of food safety program participants are following recommended
practices for food sanitation and storage according to behavior checklists
of FNEP participants.
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