Reflections on the Partnership's successes & possibilities

BAC Talk: News for Partners & Friends — August 2021

Greetings!

As I wrap up my time as Executive Director of the Partnership for Food Safety Education, I’m grateful to have this opportunity to thank you for all we’ve been able to accomplish together.

Often, program outputs are considered the “work” — and, yes, we’ve built plenty of popular consumer food safety education tools (see list below for just a few of them) and delivered some great events.

But importantly also, we’ve built an effective collaboration around core values of supporting the good health of all Americans. This collaboration has grown from 25 engaged Partners in 2015 to now 46 Partners.

The unrestricted funding that helps any nonprofit serve its core audiences — the contributions from you and your fellow PFSE Partners — have increased 90% in the past ten years.

The demand for actionable food safety information is increasing. In my discussions with you and with the PFSE staff over the past few years, we’ve brainstormed inspiring ideas for building on current popular PFSE programming. For example, the Partnership is planning new culinary programming initiatives; new kids’ curricula material and events; an overhaul of Mythbusters; and a communications plan to bring these resources to millions. These initiatives are all possible with your support.

If you’re excited about the many possibilities for 2022 — the Partnership's Silver Anniversary and beyond — and the need to move new ideas from “nice to have” to “must-have,” then I suggest an action you can take right now to signal your strong support for PFSE’s powerful future.

Register yourself and your work team members for Ready, Set, Cook It Safe!, a family-friendly virtual cooking event on Saturday, Sept 18. Make it a food safety culture activity for your entire team in recognition of National Food Safety Education Month!

Even if you can’t attend the live event, please know that your individual registration of $25 allows us to maintain contact with 300 BAC Fighters over the next three months.

Please also consider PFSE's 25th Anniversary next year as you develop your 2022 budgets. Help the staff of the Partnership continue to move great ideas to ACTION.

I can’t wait to see what's to come, and I’m grateful I’ve had you at my side as a PFSE Partner.

Until next time, wishing you good health and inspiration.

Shelley Feist

PFSE Executive Director

P.S. Have you visited and shared any of these great program tools lately?

The Healthy Lunch Cookbook: Great back-to-school recipes for kids, by kids
The Story of Your Dinner: Family-friendly content for building your fall and holiday outreach
Cook It Safe: Easy-to-share microwaving tips for frozen and convenience foods
Safe Recipes: Pick your favorites to share with your family, friends, and colleagues
Go 40 or Below: Information on the prevention of listeriosis for pregnant women and seniors
Recall Basics: Simple messages about the most important info to know about food recalls

Shelley's last day with PFSE is Tuesday, Aug. 31.

Thank you for your nearly 18 years of dedication

to advancing food safety education and

improving public health outcomes!

Mission Moment

BAC Fighter Marie Canesi has been in the kitchen with her students at the League School of Greater Boston, teaching them how to keep a balanced diet and prepare food safely. Learn more about how she engages students in safe cooking.

Upcoming Events

Virtual Partner & Federal Liaison Meeting

Thursday, September 9

12 noon Eastern

Webinar: Global Handwashing Day

Wednesday, October 6

1 p.m. Eastern

Mark your calendar! More details coming soon.

Team Building & Food Safety Culture Are Important

It can be a challenge to come up with fun and exciting ideas that achieve both team building and add to food safety culture, especially during a time of social distancing.

Here is a family-friendly offer for your team: You can recognize National Food Safety Education Month this September with Food Safety Culture Employee Engagement Packages for Ready, Set, Cook It Safe!

Ready, Set, Cook it Safe! is a virtual cooking event benefiting PFSE's consumer food safety education efforts.

Cook like a kid again while making the winning healthy, safe recipe from the Young Cooks Recipe Challenge — Cole's Chicken, Fruit & Nut Sandwiches — which includes food safety steps within meal preparation.

Food safety starts in the home. Use this family-friendly event to reinforce your internal food safety culture by showing that food safety is a core value in and out of the workplace.

And, we make it easy for you: we do the programming, you sponsor your employees' and team members' participation with a 20% group discount.

Feel free to register yourself, combining your passion for food safety with charitable giving.

Your team members want a free registration to Ready, Set, Cook It Safe! because:

Everyone loves a gift from leadership.
They'll learn new cooking skills alongside special guests.
They’ll have the chance to win prizes during the event.
It’s a family-friendly event – they can include their loved ones (and their loved ones will learn food safety too!).
They'll understand that your commitment to food safety goes beyond "the walls" of the workplace.

Click here for more information on food safety culture engagement packages and contact Britanny to begin activation.

NEW! PFSE Launches Prep Yourself Campaign

Responding to the increasing use of food delivery services and as National Food Safety Education Month kicks off, the Partnership for Food Safety Education has launched a new national campaign to help food delivery users ensure the safety of their delivered foods.

Prep Yourself, the first national food safety campaign specifically targeting users of food delivery services, seeks to encourage safe food handling at home and also educate consumers on what to consider when ordering from food delivery services.

The Prep Yourself campaign includes digital advertising, social media, and print collateral that can be integrated into food delivery service provider communications or other retailer and food safety educator communications. With a suite of downloadable resources, the PFSE encourages anyone who is interested in communicating about food safety in the delivery space to access the free materials.

On Wednesday, Aug. 25, PFSE and the Association of Food & Drug Officials (AFDO) cohosted a webinar that brought together more than 500 attendees to learn about the new campaign resources.

The Partnership will be utilizing the campaign resources throughout National Food Safety Education Month in September, and beyond. Campaign resources can be found at fightbac.org/prep-yourself.

Thank you for your commitment to modernizing food safety education!

Flour & Home Food Safety Page

On July 28, the CDC reported an outbreak of E. coli O121 linked to cake mix. Of the eight people interviewed, six people reported tasting or eating raw batter made with a cake mix.

This new webpage features food safety resources to remind families not to eat raw batter or dough.