Newswise — Consumers, food service workers and educators can always bring themselves up to date on food safety information at conferences held frequently around the nation. But they don't necessarily need to wait that long or spend the money. Iowa State University's food safety Web site has plenty of details and downloads to take care of much of their needs.
"In addition to providing science-based information directly to consumers, the food safety materials on the Web site have been used for many different types of education programs," said Catherine Strohbehn, a hotel, restaurant and institution management Extension specialist at ISU who supervises the site. "Educators and organizations indicate they are using the site to teach groups such as WIC (women, infants, children) recipients, food service managers and employees, primary and secondary students and health care providers."
Maintenance and production of the site " at http://www.iowafoodsafety.org -- is supported by funds from the Food Safety Consortium.
A prime example of the site's enhanced offerings lately is its use of podcasting and streaming video technology to make available presentations for food service personnel. ISU had recently developed a couple of videos targeted for schools and assisted-living facilities. Strohbehn and Tamara Kuhn, Web designer on the food safety project, oversaw the conversion of segments of the videos into the streaming videos now online.
The three videos online, each about 10 minutes, cover time and temperature aspects of safe cooking and handling, cleaning and sanitizing, and employee health and hygiene issues such as hand washing. They can be downloaded as MP4 files from the Web site's home page.
"The audience is those who work in food services," Strohbehn explained. "But on our Web site we operate on the premise many consumers take jobs in food service enterprises and retail food services. So by communicating to consumers the importance of hand washing, we're trying also to target consumers, teenagers and those young adults who may be more inclined to use podcasting or other methods of information."
The Web team continues to seek improvements in the videos. Students in two classes in hotel, restaurant and institution management critiqued the videos and suggested that the content should be less of a documentary and training format, Strohbehn said. The students did particularly like the ready availability of the material.
For those who may not have a few minutes to watch a video, another option on the site is the set of interactive modules that offer presentations on temperature monitoring, hand washing, cross contamination issues, and cleaning and sanitizing. A viewer simply clicks on the image that leads to a series of other images with instructions on each one before advancing to the next one. The images are animated to illustrate the appropriate ways of performing tasks such as washing hands or scrubbing plates.
Strohbehn and Kuhn also have a less technical but easily accessible way to get out the word about food safety: bookmarks. Information on an ISU Extension bookmark explains the six major control points " purchasing, storing, hand washing, cooking, serving and handling leftovers " and promotes the Web site address on the other side in prominent type. The point on hand washing was a recent addition to the redesigned bookmark.
"That really has been an emphasis for consumers as well as for the industry," Strohbehn said. "There are consumers who have been brought up without knowing proper personal hygiene. The National Restaurant Association reports that more than four of 10 adult Americans have worked in fast food or some type of restaurant facility at some point in their lives. There's a need to communicate this basic hygiene information. It's useful for consumers but also has a carryover effect on the industry."
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