Safe and Secure Food and Fiber System
Safe Food 2000

Issue

Food borne illness continues to increase in Arizona. The Arizona Department of Health Services reported more than 8100 suspected cases in 1997. Experts believe that the risk of Food borne illness is increasing due to changes in the food supply system; an increase in group feeding; an increase in the number of people at greatest risk of Food borne illness--elderly, children and people with suppressed immune systems; changes in pathogens and new resistant strains; and new modes of transmission of pathogens. An interdisciplinary, research-based approach to education is needed on the issues affecting the safety and quality of the food supply from the farm to the table.

What has been done?

Safe Food 2000 is a multi-year project focusing on education in food safety with the general public, school food service staffs, group home staffs, food banks and other community groups. The ultimate goal is to reduce Food borne illness in Arizona and to increase safe food handling practices, from the field to the consumer's plate.

The program uses a broad array of both written information and workshops delivered in several counties in Arizona. Workshops include Master Consumer Adviser volunteer training, food safety education classes, EFNEP (Extension Food and Nutrition Education Program) classes, Safe Food Handling for the Occasional Quantity Cook, Train the Trainer for 70 volunteers and local classes, and an annual Food Safety from the Farm to the Table Conference. Information services include 800-number food safety hotlines, weekly news columns on food safety in a Phoenix newspaper, and Safe Food Weeks, when food safety information packets are delivered to print and broadcast media for dissemination to the public.

Impact

More than 2000 low income families annually have attended EFNEP classes in Arizona. Of these, 93% have made positive changes in their food behaviors, and 52% improved safe food practices, according to follow-up surveys. Safe food practices result in reduced medical costs and fewer lost work days. Similar results occurred with school and institutional food service staffs. In a six-month follow-up survey with participants, 95% reported improvement in at least one safe food practice due to the training, with a 30% increase in safe food practices. These changes affected more than 200,000 children or at-risk adults. As the program spreads, the total potential number of elementary students affected by food lunch practices in Arizona would be more than 562,000 children. Food service personnel are constantly changing, so ongoing education is critical. Extension volunteers and staff have trained more than 300 community quantity cooks in safety practices. Participants report adding new safe practices to their quantity meals with church members, fund-raising dinners and homeless outreach.

Funding

Contacts

Scottie Misner, EFNEP Coordinator
The University of Arizona, Department of Nutritional Sciences
Shantz Bldg., Room 309
Tucson, AZ 85721-0038
Telephone: (520) 621-7123 FAX: (520) 621-9446
Email: misner@ag.arizona.edu

This report is one of 29 impact statements submitted by the University of Arizona College of Agriculture to the USDA's 1999 CSREES Science and Education Impacts database in Washington, D.C. An impact statement is a brief summary, in lay terms, of the economic, environmental and/or social impact of a land-grant program. It states accomplishments and their payoff to society.
Located at http://ag.arizona.edu/impacts/2000/safefood.html
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