Contributed
Editor’s note: This is part of series of articles and opinion columns we are publishing in recognition of September as Food Safety Education Month.
In an effort to enhance retail food safety, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has released two video testimonials. Less than 10 minutes each, the videos educate retail and foodservice employees on the possible, dire consequences of poor food safety practices.
The two videos feature testimonials of people who were severely affected by foodborne illness, which is preventable. In one of the videos, a woman ate food contaminated with Salmonella from a restaurant. In the other video, a man contracted norovirus after consuming a meal at a local restaurant that was prepared by an ill employee.
The videos support the FDA’s Retail Food Safety Initiative, which seeks to strengthen the retail and foodservice industry’s active managerial control of foodborne illness risk factors. The videos were produced to enhance food safety training efforts at the retail level by helping food employees understand the important role they play in protecting public health.
In addition to the video testimonials, FDA has produced numerous food safety posters and storyboards in nine different languages: English, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian, Korean, Hindi, and Arabic.
The agency encourages industry operators, food safety educators/trainers, and federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial regulatory officials to take full advantage of the materials, which are available free of charge at www.fda.gov/foodemployeetraining.
Editor’s note: To view the new videos, as well as previous videos from the FDA, please click here.
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