Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Safe Food Program Announced

Operation Food Safety, a new program aimed at preventing disease by instructing school children on the safe handling of food, was announced February 27 by Gov. Mike Huckabee, state Rep. Percy Malone of Arkadelphia and other state officials.

"Operation Food Safety is one more way we're putting children first in Arkansas," Gov. Huckabee said. "Healthy kids don't miss school and don't miss out on the joys of childhood. I'm glad so many people are working together on this worthy project."

Because foodborne illness is a serious public health concern, Operation Food Safety was created by Act 1274, which was sponsored by Rep. Malone in the 1997 General Assembly. The act directs the State Department of Education to provide a clearinghouse for teaching food- handling safety in grades pre-kindergarten through 12.

Overseeing the program is the Operation Food Safety Coalition, a public private partnership formed in May 1997 to fulfill the objectives of the legislation.

The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology, a private non-profit organization, estimates that in the United States as many as 9,000 deaths and 6.5 million to 33 million illnesses each year are food related.

Dr. J.H. Denton, director of the Poultry Science Center at the University of Arkansas, said Arkansas scientists have been addressing complex food safety issues for the past nine years.

"But research alone cannot assure a safe food supply," Dr. Denton added. "Only then we can change the behavior of the people who are handling and preparing food will real improvements in the safety of the food supply occur."

The Centers for Disease Control estimate that 97 percent of reported foodborne illnesses are due to the mishandling of food after the food is processed.

Susan Slaughter, project curri-culum writer for Operation Food Safety, said the goal of the project is to teach students the importance of food safety and measures they can take to ensure that the food they eat or prepare is safe.

"Young children are especially at risk from foodborne illnesses because they have immune systems that are not fully developed," Slaughter said. "Another con-sideration is that in many families, both parents work, which sometimes results in children being left at home unsupervised. An increasing number of children are preparing their own snacks and in some cases, meals."

Teenagers are also a focus of Operation Food Safety. Not only are teenagers more involved with the buying and preparation of food at home, but many of them have food service jobs. High school students comprise a major portion of the workforce for the fast food restaurant industry.

The curriculum contains clearly stated goals and objectives. The procedure for teaching is explained and important background information based on the latest scientific research is provided for the teachers. Each lesson has activity sheets that reinforce concepts and make learning about food safety fun.

The seed grant funding to initially support the development of Operation Food Safety was provided by the Food Safety Consortium, composed of the University of Arkansas, Iowa State University, and Kansas State University.

Researchers in the consortium work jointly with scientists in the U.S. Department of Agriculture Research Service and the Food Safety Inspection Service to strengthen the efficiency of the food marketing system.