food safety and inspection service

It’s finally November. To beat the crowds, you rush to your grocery store to buy a turkey. If this is your first time, you’re faced with a dilemma: frozen or fresh?

We use the kitchen sink for food preparation – rinsing produce, cleaning pots and pans, washing utensils that touch raw meat, and more. With these activities come the possibility for foodborne illness-causing bacteria to hang out in the sink too. If proper food preparation safety steps are not followed, these bacteria could cross-contaminate your food and make you sick!

You have a food thermometer and are ready to use it – that’s fantastic! But do you know where to place it in your foods? Correctly placing the food thermometer within food is important to get the most accurate temperature reading. Without proper placement, it’s possible that parts of your food could still be undercooked and, if contaminated, could make you sick.

When you hit the road for that one last camping trip or beach day, bring food safety along to keep foodborne illness in the rearview mirror.

Parents and caregivers should take extra precautions when preparing and packing a school lunch. Flunking in food safety is not an option, especially when children are most vulnerable to foodborne illness.

The Fourth of July is a time of celebration, family and of course cookouts. Cooking safely is in your hands and doing so can help keep your family healthy this Independence Day. Control the transfer of bacteria by thoroughly washing your hands before and after touching raw meat, poultry and seafood.

Today is World Food Safety Day, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has launched a sweeping new initiative known as the Salmonella Grand Challenge. The project brings together an elite group of ARS, university and food industry scientists from different specialties to fight Salmonella, a foodborne pathogen that sickens over a million Americans each year, sometimes fatally. The challenge complements the work being done by the Food Safety and Inspection Service to develop a more effective strategy to reduce human Salmonella illness linked to poultry.

Foodborne illness impacts every community around the world, and preventing these illnesses is essential to global health. On this World Food Safety Day, the United Nations aims to spread the message that food standards save lives.

At your next picnic, let the spotlight shine on your food — not on party crashers like Salmonella or Listeria. When temperatures rise and food safety steps aren’t followed, cold dishes at a cookout are at risk for unsafe bacteria levels. Avoid foodborne illness by following these steps:

As Ramadan, the month of fasting in Islam begins, families are looking forward to gathering for community and home-cooked meals. Here are three food safety tips to keep handy as you whip up your favorite meals for a spectacular iftar (the meal eaten after sunset during Ramadan).