The past 20 years September has been designated as National Food Safety Month. Often times I devote a column or two and offer training related to this important subject during September and this year is no exception. The web site is full of great information that focuses on five main areas of concern when it comes to food handlers. Those areas include:
• Cleaning and sanitizing
• Cross-contamination
• Time/temperature control
• Personal hygiene
• Allergens
I would say that each of these categories is equally important to daily food service workers as well as daily consumers and volunteers. As I look through the training materials to prepare to teach the class there are some updated statistics to pass along. The danger zone temperatures have changed slightly; food that is held for two hours between the temperatures of 41 degrees F and 135 degrees F are considered unsafe. Bacteria multiply rapidly at these temperatures, and this bacteria can cause a food-borne illness.
Everyone reading this has probably had at least one episode of a food-borne illness. With symptoms mimicking the flu, cases often go unreported. Learning proper food handling procedures goes a long way to reduce the chances of contracting a food-borne illness in the future.
If you would like to participate in a ServSafe workshop for food handlers mark your calendar for Tuesday, Sept. 9th. Ralph Sunley, who does food service inspections for the Kansas Department of Agriculture in this area, will assist me in teaching this class. The class will be held from 1:30 – 4:30 p.m. at our Extension Office Meeting Room, 1800 12th Street. There is a $10 registration fee for the class that should be turned in at our office by Tuesday, Sept. 2nd.
Feel free to give me a call if you have a question about the workshop.
Donna Krug is the Family & Consumer Science Agent with K-State Research and Extension – Barton County. You may reach her at (620)793-1910 or dkrug@ksu.edu