This summer, my father-in-law grilled chicken kabobs when my husband and I were visiting. He brought the kabobs out to the grill on a platter and put them onto the grill using tongs. Okay so far.  He turned the kabobs during cooking using the same tongs. How long is he going to use the same tongs?  Then, he removed the kabobs from the grill using the same tongs and placed the kabobs on the same plate on which they were brought to the grill! What are you doing?  I had to scream.  Could it be possible that everyone doesn’t know basic food safety techniques like using a new platter for cooked chicken? Perhaps my father-in-law does not cook very often or never learned food safety in a class. Nonetheless, he somehow missed the proverbial food-safety-education boat.

Perhaps many Job Corps students, who in a very short amount of time will be on their own, cooking their own food, have not heard that meat and poultry need to be cooked to a certain temperature. Maybe they are not aware that food should not be left out of the refrigerator for more than two hours or that refrigerated food should be kept below 40 degrees. Gasp!

Every few years, an outbreak of foodborne illness at a restaurant or food packaging plant makes headline news and brings food safety into the spotlight.  The recent E. coli O157:H7 outbreak from packaged spinach did just this. Large, severe outbreaks make the news, but foodborne illnesses often covertly attack at home or in food service establishments. As a health professional, you can help students steer clear of foodborne pathogens with a few simple steps:

• Reeducate yourself on food safety if your knowledge is a little rusty.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety Education website is a good place to start.
• Talk with the food services department on your center. See what they do to prevent foodborne illness on center. Are they ServSafe certified? (ServSafe is a certification from the National Restaurant Association. They ensure food service workers know proper food safety procedures.) Do they follow Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) procedures?
• Display a food safety poster or brochure in your waiting area. Several organizations supply these materials free of charge:
• Fight Bac!
• Be Food Safe
• Thermy
• If your center has a culinary arts program, recommend that the instructor emphasize the importance of food safety for culinary professionals. A free Food and Drug Administration (FDA) curriculum for high school students is available at the Fight Bac! Education & Outreach webpage.