|  |  | **Food Safety and Inspection    Service    United States Department of Agriculture    Washington, D.C. 20250-3700** |
|--|--|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

##### Consumer Information

##### Summer 1997

## The Food Safety Educator

#### First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton Speaks to Food Safety Educators

Speaking to more than 500 people in a packed auditorium here inWashington, D.C. this past June, Hillary Rodham Clinton called the gathering one of themost important events of the year for food safety educators. "You are here to worktogether, to form partnerships to try to make sure that food doesn't make people sick....It doesn't get any more basic than that," she said.

Mrs. Clinton was addressing the first national conference devoted toexploring new strategies for educating consumers, called "Changing Strategies,Changing Behaviors." The conference was co-sponsored by the U.S. Department ofAgriculture, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control andPrevention. 

The day-and-a-half-long meeting provided a platform for presenting newinformation on consumer attitudes and trends, epidemiological data, risk communications,social marketing and case studies.

##### Focusing on Food Safety Education

In addressing the attendees, Mrs. Clinton noted the President's foodsafety initiative that calls for increases in disease surveillance, research, inspection,coordination among government agencies and a full-scale public education campaign aboutfoodborne illness. 

Speaking of food safety education, Mrs. Clinton said, "We used to geta lot of this type of information in schools and had more awareness of safe foodpreparation because we saw food being prepared." Now, she said, many children"think food comes in a box. They don't have the day-to-day experience of handlingfood in the kitchen."

Educating Americans about how to handle food safely "is central toour success in the overall area of food safety."

"I hope we are up to this challenge," she said. "I oftenworry that issues like this get put on the back-burner unless there's an outbreak--atragedy." We have to be vigilant, Mrs.Clinton said, to meet the challenges of livingin a rapidly changing environment with newly identified pathogens and risks.

##### "Our hard-won-blessings"

At the same time, Mrs. Clinton pointed to the many benefits we tend totake for granted. Recalling a trip to Nepal, Mrs. Clinton recounted a meeting she had witha young Peace Corps volunteer. The young woman told Mrs. Clinton that one of her strongestimpressions was of missing the things she had taken for granted--like safe food and water.

"I wish I could have taken every American with me on that trip,"Mrs. Clinton said, so they could have seen through that volunteer's eyes the "valueof our hard-won blessings...our food is safe." But that safety can't be taken forgranted, she added. "We have to do what is required to make our food safe, so we canpass this way of life and these blessings on to our children." 

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#### The Conference at a Glance

Attracting more than 500 people, the first national meeting of food safetyeducators required some re-working of plans to accommodate all the people who wanted toattend. As a result, charter buses were called into action to ferry participants from theplanned hotel conference site to larger facilities at Georgetown University.

But for participants, there was a significant reward at the end of theride: a packed program with presentations from national experts representing government,academia, consumer groups and industry. In addition to the appearance of First LadyHillary Rodham Clinton, the conference also featured Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickmanand Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala. 

Conference presentations shed light on pathogenic risks, consumerbehaviors and techniques for influencing behaviors. 

Numerous leaders from government, industry and academe stressed theimportance of communicating clear, concise food safety messages the public will remember.At the same time, conference discussions highlighted the different approaches educatorsfeel are needed and the difficulty of framing simple messages that will change behaviorand are also scientifically accurate.

##### Conference Summary

Vicky Freimuth, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,summarized the conference on the final day noting that the conference had identifiedseveral challenges facing food safety educators.

It's clear, she said, that we are working in a dynamic and changingenvironment. This change is evidenced in a number of ways: Newly recognized pathogens arerequiring new solutions. International trade means that food safety problems are no longerconfined by national boundaries. And, as conference experts noted, people are buying moreready-to-eat foods than ever before. As a result, supermarkets and processing practicesare changing to keep pace.

Acknowledging the different points of view that surfaced during theconference regarding food safety messages, Freimuth challenged the educators to try tofind consensus on key critical messages and how those messages should be delivered. 

Relatedly, Freimuth suggested a change in approach as educators designfood safety messages. "We have stressed the importance traditionally of having'science-based' messages in terms of the pathogens, but we also need to have'science-based' messages in terms of our audience," she said. Referring to thescience of social marketing, Freimuth said "we need to know what consumers want toknow and what behavior practices they are willing to adopt." 

Information alone, she added, won't result in behavior change. "It'seasy to fall back on just giving out information. But don't do it.... Remember thatcommunication in itself is not a magic bullet. It's not the only strategy for dealing withfood safety. We've seen many instances where one message and one form of message deliverywon't work for everyone," she said. 

Finally, Freimuth, said, "I hope this conference will encourage youto think about how you can put these issues on your agendas at home." In spite of thecomplex issues facing the educators, Freimuth said her final challenge to the group was toremember a quote from the film "Schindler's List" used by a previous speaker:"A person who saves a single life saves the entire world."

> 
Conference proceedings will be mailed to all conference participants later  this fall. Others who are interested in the proceedings should fax their request in with  their name and address to 202/720-9063.

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### Focus on: Consumers

#### FDA Consumer Research

According to Alan Levy, chief of the FDA consumer studies branch, astriking disconnect exists between consumer concerns and consumer behavior when it comesto safe food handling.

Between 1988 and 1993, research shows consumers seemed to be increasinglyconcerned about food safety, but at the same time unsafe food handling practices haveincreased. 

Levy suggested a number of reasons for this "disconnect." Forthe past 30 years, he said, a dominant theme has been that we have the safest food supplyin the world. Consumers have internalized this message and believe that problems can befixed by government controls and not by personal behavior. People think that food safetyfailures occur in processing plants and restaurants and not in their own homes or due totheir own actions. 

In addition, Levy said that focus group work concerning the dangers of *Vibriovulnificus* and the consumption of raw oysters revealed that people were knowledgeableabout the risks, considered themselves as "experts" and felt they knew how tocontrol the risks. Similarly, FDA focus group testing of food safety advisories for use inrestaurants revealed that people had a negative reaction to the consumer warning. Theirresponse, Levy said, was "we know and don't want to be reminded." 

While people are in fact fairly knowledgeable about food safety issues, hesaid, they also have serious misconceptions about foodborne illness and its consequences."To the extent that people don't see this as a serious problem, they won't feel anurgency to change their behavior," he said.

One way to break through, Levy suggested, is to give people a betterpicture of the magnitude of food safety problems and challenge people's understanding ofthemselves as experts. Levy said that new data from the FoodNet surveillance systemlaunched in 1995 by USDA, CDC and FDA may be "the best way to challenge people'sunderstanding of themselves as experts." 

Levy also noted that a new FDA consumer survey is being conducted thissummer and will shed light on how consumer attitudes and behaviors may have changedfollowing the 1993 *E. coli* O157:H7 outbreak. Results from the survey should beavailable this coming winter and will be posted on the FDA homepage: *http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/list.html*.

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#### Insights From Consumer Groups

##### Education Is Only One Component

Carolyn Smith DeWaal, of the Center for Science in the Public Interest,told the educators "you need to know that consumers are part of the solution, but notthe whole solution.... While thorough cooking helps, consumers can't fix *E. coli* onlettuce or *Salmonella* on alfalfa sprouts." She encouraged the educators toavoid implying that consumers had somehow "failed." The "blaming-the-victimapproach is not only inappropriate, but will turn consumers off," she said."Consumers can't prevent all cases of food poisoning."

Pointing out that 46 percent of food dollars are spent on restaurant mealsand other foods away from home, she said it's not enough for educators to communicate withconsumers about food safety in the kitchen. You need, she said, to focus on food safetyfrom farm to table, and to control pathogens earlier in the food chain.

Communication about safe food handling needs to be presented in a directand entertaining way. "Don't forget 'KIS'--keep it simple." Be honest about thefoods or behaviors that are risky, and get the message out, she added. Finally, shereminded, "Consumer education is only one component of a modern food safetysystem--never a substitute for a safer food supply."

##### What Consumers Want...

Behind every food poisoning statistic, said Nancy Donley, is a face, astory, a life. Donley brought one of those faces to life as she sketched the details ofher son's life and****painful death****from *E. coli* O157:H7.

Donley lost her only child, Alex, "all because contaminated cattlefeces lurked in the hamburger in what should have been the safest of environments--his ownhome." Donley encouraged the educators not to use the brown/grey color of hamburgeras an indicator of safety. She commended USDA for recently changing its position andadvising consumers to rely only on a meat thermometer, not visual signs of doneness. 

Referring to*E. coli* O157:H7, she said, "you cannot educatethis evil pathogen away. A simple microbe of *E. coli* is all it takes. The emphasismust be on prevention. Education is simply trying to catch the cows after they haveescaped the barn."

Consumers can and should accept responsibility, she added, but they needto know what they are dealing with and they need the information in clear, no-nonsenselanguage. In answering the question of 'what do consumers want,' Donley said she had giventhe conference attendees the 10-minute answer. "Now I'll give you the two-wordanswer--the truth." 

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#### Insights From Industry

##### Partnership for Food Safety Education--"We want to be part of thesolution."

Industry involvement in the Partnership for Food Safety Education cameabout because "the private sector has a vested interest in public health. We want tobe part of the solution to the foodborne illness problem," said Sara Lilygren, of theAmerican Meat Institute.

The Partnership, which was announced last May, has pledged itself to aconsumer education campaign slated to be released in mid-September. With $500,000 infunding from six industry groups, the Partnership has contracted with a major publicrelations firm to develop the campaign.

The Partnership is broad-based, however. Government agencies, consumergroups and public health organizations have signed on to work cooperatively and helpdisseminate campaign materials. 

"Why is industry involved?" Lilygren asked. "We've seen thevalue of training our employees...and it's really working." Continuing this type ofeducation with consumers, Lilygren said, was a natural extension. 

##### Food Marketing Institute--"Change" Is Key as Consumers Eat Out

We eat out as much as we eat in, according to Michael Sansolo of the FoodMarketing Institute. These staggering changes, he said, change the way people eat andchange issues in terms of food safety.

The Food Marketing Institute represents grocery stores and also conductsstudies in consumer behavior and buying patterns. Those studies have shown that grocerystores are no longer a growth industry because meal times have changed. Increasingly,supermarkets are competing with restaurants. McDonald's, Sansolo pointed out, servesapproximately 7 percent of the population every day.

"We remember the time when grandma used to take two hours to preparea meal. Now it's more likely to take 15 minutes. And for the new generation coming along,even 15 minutes is too much," he said. "If they don't want to cook, how are wegoing to educate them about safe cooking?" he asked. "This is going to betough" he said, but food safety education needs to change to keep pace with thisreality. 

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#### Food Safety Messages for Consumers

"If you had only a few seconds to provide food safety information tosomeone, what is the most critical information you can give?" asked Susan Conley,director of the FSIS food safety education and communications staff.

Conley pointed out that there is myriad food safety advice out there."We need," she said, "to cut through all the advice and get back to basic,critical messages."

In determining these messages, Conley pointed out that experience indealing with callers to the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline has shown that consumers willcall seeking information regarding one type of food--and then call again seeking similarinformation on another type of food. "They don't always get the principles that couldrelate to other foods or situations," she said.

To help identify the basic messages and principles of safe food handling,food safety educators from government, industry and consumer groups met this past springto brainstorm the critical steps in consumer food preparation. The steps were thencompiled into a list and sent to key experts in food safety education and microbiology torank as to their importance. From a risk-assessment standpoint, the experts' reviewclearly identified four primary concepts:

- Personal hygiene--handwashing. 
- Cross-contamination--prevent contact between raw and cooked product. 
- Cook foods thoroughly--pay attention to time and temperature. 
- Refrigerate cooked food promptly. 

"These are old, basic messages," Conley said, "but theyneed a new face, a new attitude.... Just because people are informed and aware does notmean they will act on the information."

Recasting these messages, Conley said, is part of the mission of the newpublic/private partnership being launched by the Partnership for Food Safety Education. Inaddition, Conley encouraged the educators to stay current on consumer research and newcommunication tools by signing up for the new e-mail network: EdNet. 

> 
Check Out EdNet: New Federally Sponsored Electronic Network Linking Food  Safety Educators. To sign up, send your name, email address and phone number by email to:  [email protected]. Please be sure to state whether your interest is primarily  consumer/health or retail/food service education. 

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### Focus on: Risk Communication

Consultant Peter M. Sandman has worked with a variety of groups on riskcommunications. Applying lessons learned in those situations to food safety, Sandman saidthe key is this: "The risks that kill people and the risks that upset people arecompletely different. The correlation between harm and upset is very, very low. Thequestion is why?"

Communication experts used to feel this was because they just weren'tpresenting the public with enough information. But it's not that people need moreinformation, Sandman said. And it's not that they can't understand risk data. The problemis, he says, that communication experts are not addressing the public's sense of outrage. 

Experts deal well with explaining the hazards involved; they don't deal atall with the outrage component. Outrage, he said, is tied to control. "We willtolerate risks we choose, but not risks we don't choose," he added. According toSandman, outrage is real, manageable and as important as hazard. 

"First figure out WHY the outrage is high and then you can figure outwhat you can do to get public outrage down. Only then can you go on and try to educatepeople about the hazards," he said. 

#### Lowering Outrage:

Some of Sandman's strategies for lowering outrage include:

- Stake out the middle rather than the extreme. When trying to reassure    the public, work hard not to understate the risks. 
- Acknowledge prior mistakes. "I'm not saying," he said,    "to admit legal liability, but you need to acknowledge that you are taking moral    responsibility." 
- Acknowledge current problems. You don't get credit for the success    unless you announce your problems before you solve them, he said. 
- Don't lie about the reasons for making changes--and give away credit    whenever possible. 
- Share control. People feel safer driving themselves than being driven by    others, Sandman pointed out. "If you want me to feel safer, the solution is to give    me more control." 

#### Increasing Outrage:

In terms of alerting people to risks and increasing their concern, Sandmansaid there are a number of reasons why people reject this type of information.

Sometimes people feel outraged at what they consider to be"over-protection." When you tell people to take precautions, he said, sometimesyou just make them mad. You need to share control, get people involved in the solutionsand give them options. Let people choose, he suggested, between actions that might becharacterized as extremely safe, moderately safe, or somewhat risky. Given those options,he said, people will usually choose a moderately safe action. 

There are also times when people reject information because by protectingthemselves, they remind themselves of the risks. "They would rather not think aboutit," he said.

When outrage is not present, Sandman said, people will convince themselvesthat they are not at risk. "We look for reasons why we are not at risk. You need toknow what story we are telling ourselves about why we are not at risk. People may feelthey are the experts on their lives and the risks they are willing to take. You need toacknowledge that," he said.

"You need to know WHY people aren't protecting themselves before youcan talk them into it. The reason is almost never that they don't know the facts."

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### Focus on Pathogens

"I want to emphasize how much foodborne disease has changed,"said Dr. Fred Angulo of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This change, Dr.Angulo said, is linked to a number of issues including newly recognized pathogens,****newlyidentified vehicles and routes of transmission and newly recognized consequences includingHemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS). In addition, Dr. Angulo pointed out that foodborneillness outbreaks now reflect our complex production network and may be multi-state orinternational in scope. 

"Consumer education," he cautioned, "is vital, but will notin itself eliminate foodborne disease." Dr. Angulo stressed the need for better datato assess prevention techniques. Much of that data, he said, will be coming from the newFoodNet sentinel site surveillance system started in 1995 by USDA, FDA and CDC.

At the same time, data from FoodNet will also help educators identifyconsumer behaviors and risks , according to Peggy Nunnery, FSIS's director of the foodhazard surveillance division. Recent population data from FoodNet surveyed over 13,000people from five States on their behaviors at home and when eating out. The data shedlight on consumer behavior and knowledge in a number of areas including handwashing,awareness of the safe handling label, food handling practices and eating preferences. Asdata is collected over time, it will help identify which behaviors and/or foods mayincrease risks of foodborne illness. 

In another session, Dr. Phillip Tarr of Seattle Children's Hospital addedinsights concerning *E. coli* O157:H7. Looking at *E. coli* statistics for KingCounty since 1971, he said, "you see that the disease is not out of control, but it'snot getting better either." Dr. Tarr estimates that 90 percent of HUS cases arecaused by *E. coli*O157:H7. Like Dr. Angulo, Dr. Tarr underscored the need forbetter national surveillance. 

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### Focus On: Social Marketing

*A panel of experts provided an overview of social marketing principlesand then put social marketing to work as they brainstormed and applied social marketingconcepts to a specific food safety education task: teaching picnickers the importance ofsafe food handling--and using meat thermometers.*

#### The Overview

According to Sharyn Sutton of American University, social marketing is theapplication of advertising and marketing principles to social initiatives in order toachieve goals through behavior change. "You focus on the desired behavior change andthen identify what attitude and knowledge you need to get to that behavior change,"she said. 

A common fault of public health programs, she explained, is to rely solelyon clinical and epidemiologic research as the basis for messages. This reliance leads tomessages that present "the facts" about a specific health behavior, on theassumption that exposure to these facts will lead to the desired behavior.

Social marketing, through a process Sutton terms "consumer-basedhealth communications" (CHC), transforms scientific recommendations into messagestrategies that are relevant to the consumer. The core of CHC is consumer research tounderstand the consumers' reality. Information can be drawn from quantitative data--suchas data bases--and qualitative data--interviews with individuals. 

The goal of the research is to answer six strategic questions:

- Who is the target audience? There is no such thing, said Sutton, as    "the public." You need to define the audience as specifically as possible.    "You need," she said, "to be talking to a real person." 
- What is the desired action? This should be the consumer's behavior and    action--not the public health goal. Also look at, what does this action replace? "We    want you to do X" she explained, "instead of Y." 
- What is the "promise"? What reward is involved? "This    needs to be something that the individual cares about. It is totally subjective and not    the reward to the public at large," Sutton said.  
- What support can be provided? What role models can demonstrate the    behavior and help the consumer master the new behavior? 
- What is the right time and vehicle for delivering this message? When    will the consumer be open to it? Do you use mass media or target flyers to a specific    group? Would one-on-one interactions be more effective? 
- What is a persuasive image? You need to have the appropriate messenger    and make sure consumers feel you are talking to them specifically--that they can see    themselves performing the new action. 

#### Social Marketing at Work

The conference's social marketing team, as part of their presentation,took on the task of teaching safe food handling during summer cookouts. The weekend beforethe conference, team members interviewed and video-taped picnickers in a local park. Aten-minute composite of those interviews was shown to theconferenceattendees, providing "real life" feedback on the "target audience." 

As the interviewers wandered through the park with their video camera,they talked to older people, young people, couples, and mothers. They had a lot to sayabout safe food handling**:**

*"I'm not at risk 'cause I know the grocery store I shop at."*

*"The key is having a real hot flame--then you know****it'sgoing to be okay."*

*"I try to bring separate utensils and plates to handle raw andcooked foods--you know, there's no water to wash things with here. Then I use a bit ofalcohol to clean my hands**."**In response to questionsabout using meat thermometers, many people dismissed the idea as not practical, notnecessary. But the picnickers' negative reaction to using a meat****thermometer didn'tdiscourage the social marketing team. 
Instead, as part of their conference presentation, they brainstormed whatthey had learned about their audience to try to get them to do the desired action.

To further define their audience--and their message--they identified menas their target audience. Demographic data showed that men frequently cook out.

The problem, suggested one panelist, may not be the message, but makingthe action easy. "What is the 'cost' to the consumer if he were to adopt thisbehavior?" One possible cost they identified was that others "might think Idon't know what I'm doing if I used a thermometer." 

"If the image of a guy using a meat thermometer is one of not being a'real guy,' how can we re-position that image?" one panelist asked. 

Their solutions included using a high-tech meat thermometer with "guyappeal" or encouraging a thermometer cook-off competition. While the solutions were"spur of the moment," they demonstrated the variety of potential approaches. Thesocial marketers showed that just because an idea is a tough-sell, doesn't mean it is ano-sell. 

In closing, Craig Lefebvre, of Prospect Associates, reminded the audienceabout the****importance of pre-testing ideas. "It's aconstant process of going back to the consumer," he said. "You can do 20interviews, you don't need to do nation-wide focus group testing.

"You don't need to have it all picture perfect before you move. Picka few simple things that can at least move the process forward. A key is that the outcomemust be relevant to the consumer. And while the marketing process is data driven,sometimes we need to go by the seat of our pants and learn from our experiences. Don'twait to get everything perfect, because you're risking lives in the meantime." 

For more information on social marketing, contact:

The Society for Social Marketing & The Social Marketing Quarterly  3500 E. Fletcher Ave.  Suite 519  Tampa, FL 33613  phone: 813/971-2119
Case Studies
*The second day of the conference provided an opportunity to focus onfood safety education projects that demonstrated unique alliances and unusual approaches.*
Georgia Department of Health:
During the 1988 holiday season, a single Georgia hospital reported 15cases of bloody diarrhea among children traced to *yersinia*from chitterlingspreparations. Flyers with alerts were distributed, but outbreaks continued.

In August of 1996, Dr. Ann Peterson of the health department took on theproblem with two new objectives: find out why the outbreaks were still occurring anddesign an intervention to prevent outbreaks before the next holiday season.

Dr. Peterson's investigation assessed how chitterlings were prepared, howbabies became sick and identified a behavior within the community that had the potentialto reduce illness--pre-boiling the chitterlings for five minutes.

This behavior became the recommended action in the subsequent informationcampaign. They used a variety of means to get the information out, including a briefingwith religious leaders who then passed the word to their congregations. 

The result? Once the campaign got underway, outbreaks declined.

Dr. Peterson's recommendations:
- Use formative research 
- Talk to the community--"Our best idea came from the audience we    were talking to."  
- Address the audiences' issues--"what are their concerns?" 
- Think about the gatekeepers early. Plan for them as you would plan for    your target audience, she suggests. 

For more information, contact Dr. Ann Peterson, 770/488-7773.
Allegheny County Health Department:
"Brownie the Burger" hit the streets in May 1996 with his slogan"If I'm pink in the middle, I'm cooked too little." Mike Diskin, projectcoordinator for the Pennsylvania county health department, noted USDA's new positionrecommending no longer using "brown" as a sign of "doneness" andrecommending the use of a meat thermometer. Research has shown that some brown ground beefcan actually be undercooked.

At the same time, Diskin feels the Allegheny County campaign has made adifference.

Diskin said they began the campaign because of concerns about theconnection between *E. coli* 0157:H7 and HUS in children. As a result, in addition toconducting the campaign, they also made *E. coli* 0157:H7 a reportable disease.

The county's campaign took Brownie the Burger everywhere with his foodsafety message: to schools, day care centers, fairs and parades. In addition, they had amore comprehensive message for parents, including the recommendation to use a meatthermometer.

With support from the business community, including the grocery chainGiant Eagle, the campaign promoted a coloring contest that attracted 5,000 entries. Alocal company donated ten billboards that aired the Brownie the Burger message and busesalong major routes carried posters. By mid-summer, the program moved into day care centerswith a song for kids ("If it's pink in the middle, say no way!") and detailedfood safety information for providers. 

Some of the campaign's results: Awareness of the campaign among childrenwas 77 percent, parents 81 percent. Sixty-two percent of parents reported a behaviorchange.

For kids, 94 percent said they won't eat a burger with pink in the middle.

Finally, Diskin noted, since the campaign began, there have been noconfirmed cases of HUS for kids in Allegheny County, even with mandatory reporting. 

For more information, call Mike Diskin, 412/578-7933.
Giant Food Stores:
Odonna Mathews, consumer advisor for Giant Food Stores, described thechain's efforts to teach consumers about food safety. 

Giant has been active for years in providing consumer information. Mathewsnoted that of all the actions they have taken, they found TV and radio spots--especiallyradio--to be the most effective. Their consumer information program includes signs andbrochures in the stores, a food safety column that runs with newspaper ads and informationon grocery bags. All the information runs under the slogan, "Be a safe foodhandler." 

Mathews suggested that information needs to be simple, actionable andrepeated****frequently. 

From the food chain's viewpoint, teaching consumers about food safety isanother way of increasing consumer trust and, ultimately, sales.

For more information, call 301/341-4365.
Oregon State University:
Project director Carolyn Raab described an innovative effort to reach outto foodbank recipients with food safety messages. Their unique approach: put food safetymessages on common household items. A sponge promoted "clean," a magnet"cool," and a potholder "cook thoroughly."

Raab reported mixed results in terms of recall and behavior change. Partof the problem was that some of the target audience were in fact unemployed food handlers."They felt they already knew the information," she said. 

Raab reported that it was also difficult to find the right people todiscuss the messages with the audience. The foodbank volunteers--who gave out thehousehold items-- did not always see themselves as "educators." Were she to dothe campaign again, these are two areas she would re-assess. For more information, call541/737-1019.
The Chef and the Child Foundation:
The philanthropic arm of the American Culinary Foundation, the Chef andthe Child Foundation (CCF) provides consumer education through more than 300 chaptersnationwide.

CCF director Pat Thibodeau reported on a recent cooperative project withUSDA: developing a food safety coloring book for kids. More than 30,000 have beendistributed to date.

Encouraging educators to work with CCF, Thibodeau noted that "we areyour natural partners. We are your feet; we are your grassroots in the community."

Chefs, she explained, were eager to go out into their communities andteach food safety. "You'll find our chefs doing presentations to kids in schools, daycare centers, food pantries, and hospitals," she said.****While we work withchildren, she said, we also work with the organizations, letting them know that we'd beglad to provide consultations on food safety and sanitation issues.

CCF has also developed a safe food handling training program forfoodservice workers in foodbanks that is available for a nominal charge. To date, theyhave distributed more than 10,000 workbooks and videos and provided training in more than40 cities. For more information**,** call 904/824-4468.
Orlando District Public Affairs (FDA):
Lynne Isaacs reported on a new****teaching kit on *Vibrio vulnificus*,a serious problem in****Florida. In fact, Isaacs noted, the illness had caused twodeaths in the past five weeks.

Isaacs reported that work with focus groups was useful in developing thenew materials. Many people with liver disease, for instance, didn't know they werevulnerable**.**

For a copy of the kit, call Project Director Clara Lawhead at813/869-3900, ext. 120.
Consumer Information Center: 
Mary Levy from the Consumer Information Center (CIC) briefed conferenceparticipants on a special CIC program to encourage the Federal Government and privateconcerns to publish jointly. 

She reported on a recent partnership project initiated by Laura Fox, fromthe FSIS food safety and consumer education staff. The project resulted in a partnershipteaming FSIS and Lysol in producing a publication about food safety and sanitation in thekitchen. (The cooperative partnership requires the publication to be free of advertisingand****not copyrighted.)

To date, said Levy, 130 publications have been published cooperatively.When you joint-publish, Levy said, the publication is mentioned in the CIC catalog, whichgoes to more than 16 million people nationwide. 

For more information on CIC, Levy suggested educators check theaward-winning site on the web at: *www.pueblo.gsa.gov*. For information oncooperative partnerships, call 202/501-1794.****
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**For Further Information Contact:**FSIS Food Safety Education StaffDianne Durant, EditorPhone: (202) 720-7943Fax: (202) 720-9063

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