Georgia County Government - March 2009 - (Page 22)

ExtensionNews The ‘FACS’ About Food Safety from Family and Consumer Sciences Extension By Dr. Judy Harrison, Professor and Extension Foods Specialist University of Georgia, College of Family and Consumer Sciences W hether going to work in one of Georg ia’s most u rba n counties or one of its most rural, a County Extension Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) Agent is equally likely to be challenged on any given day by one or more of the following scenarios: • Our school’s freezer has been without power for several hours. Can we salvage any of the food? • The cook in our childcare center has to get food safety training for us to keep operating. When is the next one being offered? • I’m interested in starting a food business in my community. What do I need to do to be able to operate out of my home? • How can I get the foodservice manager certification I need to keep my restaurant operating? • Our food bank has canned food that was exposed to flood water. Is it still safe to give it away? • A hurricane is expected to hit our community in two days. How can I prepare an emergency food supply? • We have so much food in our garden. How can we safely preserve it? • We just want our fundraiser to be a success and not make anyone sick. As Georgia citizens struggle every day for answers to questions like these and many more, County FACS Agents use their food safety knowledge, experience and access to the full array of University of Georgia resources to provide research-based solutions. They answer questions, provide training as mandated by law and help residents and community practitioners ensure they are adhering to the highest possible level of food safety guidelines. In the arena of food safety, UGA Cooperative Extension plays a different role than that of the local health department. Health departments regulate and inspect foodservice facilities and investigate outbreaks of foodborne illness. Extension FACS Agents play more of an educational role by working with consumers and workers in foodservice facilities in communities to prevent foodborne illness from happening. In many communities, Cooperative Extension collaborates with the local health department to offer classes to teach foodservice managers and employees how to handle Dr. Judy Harrison [left], UGA FACS Extension Specialist, shares food safety information with a shopper at a local grocery store. food safely in foodservice and retail establishments. Recently, the media seem to have reported a great number of cases of foodborne illness and an even greater number of cases in which there was serious potential for illness. Th is fairly recent rash of reports is credited with raising not only individual consumer awareness of the issue, but a greater awareness of the issue at the community level. Public officials are taking a more active role to ensure all segments of local government subject to food safety regulation, including schools, jails, senior citizen centers, health care facilities and others, are taking every possible precaution to prevent incidences of foodborne illness. In addition to this being just plain, oldfashioned “good business,” there can be a financial incentive for adhering to safe food handling practices. And because many of the cases of foodborne illness are preventable, the adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is really quite true. With health costs rising every year, the Economic Research Service estimates that preventing just one case of Salmonellosis, which requires hospitalization, saves approximately $10,000. Prevention of a single case of E. coli O157:H7, even without the most serious complications, saves more than $6,000. At rates like these, it does not take long for the value of food safety education to add up. There are as many as 5,000 deaths and 76 million illnesses in the United States each year from foodborne illness. Symptoms of foodborne illness include diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, fever and, in some cases, serious complications such as stillbirths, paralysis, kidney failure, stroke and even death. Young children and older adults are two of the groups most at risk for foodborne 22 GEORGIA COUNTY GOVERNMENT

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Georgia County Government - March 2009

Georgia County Government - March 2009 Contents President’s Message County Matters Focus on Southeast Georgia The Georgia Public Service Commission Jerry R. Griffin MPA Scholarship Recipients Named Extension News Research Corner Staff News County Parade Index of Advertisers

Georgia County Government - March 2009

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