What do we know about food safety and COVID-19? COVID-19 is caused by one of a family of coronaviruses. COVID-19 is a respiratory illness. The primary route of infection is through air-borne virus particles from the droplets of a sneeze or cough of an infected individual. If you breathe in virus-containing droplets of mucus or saliva from […]
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The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is a respiratory virus. While the Centers for Disease Control does not consider COVID-19 to be a foodborne illness, there are actions that you can take to prevent foodborne illness that appear effective in fighting the coronavirus. Of the food safety steps in helping to mitigate coronavirus, hand washing appears to be the most important. Avoiding contact with […]
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How likely is a person to come down with COVID-19 from take-out food from a local restaurant or items purchased at the grocery store? Luckily, this isn’t very likely to happen. Coronovirus is a respiratory virus. This means that it spreads primarily through the respiratory system, with the main transmission through person-to-person droplet infection. Someone who is infected coughs […]
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We encourage consumers to use ‘Best By’ dates on food and beverage packaging as a guide to decision-making, knowing that these dates are applied to food packages as indicators of quality, not safety. Most food products are not even required to carry a ‘best by’ or ‘best if used by’ date. The exception to this […]
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February is National Canned Food Month and in the midst of winter it can be pleasant to think about gardening and the food preservation that awaits later this year. What do we know about canned fruits and vegetables that we find on the grocery shelf? Are they a good choice for stocking your pantry? Here are some fun […]
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Crock Pot slow cooker. During the winter, menu planning often turns more to soups and stews than at other times of the year. When that happens, a slow cooker is the perfect appliance for preparing a nutritious meal that is ready when you walk through the door at the end of the day. A slow […]
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Image courtesy of foodsafetynews.com Every year the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service’s Pesticide Data Program analyzes a wide variety of food crops and processed foods for pesticide residues. The annual report of testing covering 2018 was recently released (December 2019), with the numbers varying little from recent years. According to the report summary, “Over 99% of the products […]
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Many individuals make New Year’s resolutions, and these days some companies are even getting into the game. Several prominent companies including Marriott (the hotel and hospitality company), Nestle Global (the international food and beverage company), and several branches of the U.S. government have pledged to reduce food waste in 2020. I have been working with the […]
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It’s national Food Safety Education Month and National Family Meals Month. A great way to start the school year off right is to remember that food safety is the foundation of a delicious family meal. The Story of Your Dinner offers creative tools and messages to frame food safety throughout the chain of prevention — […]
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The debate on whether or not to wash raw poultry is a fierce one, but until recently there was no hard-and-fast data to tell us just how risky it is to wash poultry. A recent study from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) demonstrates that individuals are putting themselves at risk of illness when they […]
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