AMBITIOUS FOOD SAFETY EDUCATION CAMPAIGN


					Release No. 0378.97

Media Advisory 

                                   Jacque Knight (202) 720-9113
                                         jacque.knight@usda.gov

AMBITIOUS FOOD SAFETY EDUCATION CAMPAIGN TO BE UNVEILED; PUTS A FACE ON   
FOODBORNE BACTERIA

     WASHINGTON, Oct. 22, 1997--At a time of rising concern about food
safety, two Cabinet Secretaries -- Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman and
Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala -- will go directly to
consumers with the message that all foods must be handled safely in order to
be eaten safely.  While improvements in food safety are being made
continuously by government and industry, consumers also play a role in
preventing foodborne illness.  Accordingly, Secretaries Glickman and Shalala
will join with national consumer organizations and food industry groups at a
Washington news conference to launch one of the most far-reaching and
ambitious public education campaigns ever to focus on safe food handling. 
The food safety education campaign -- as part of the President's Food Safety
Initiative -- demonstrates a public-private partnership to address safe food
handling by consumers and other food preparers.

     The campaign is designed to reach all Americans and was developed by
the Partnership for Food Safety Education, a unique coalition of industry,
government and consumer groups.  Besides educating consumers that the
potential for foodborne illness exists beyond the spoilage problems that
people can see or smell, the campaign will use some new and innovative
approaches to teach basic sanitation and food handling steps that will
greatly reduce the risk of food-related illness.  Along with the Cabinet
secretaries, the news conference will feature Carol Tucker Foreman, former
Assistant Secretary of Agriculture; Tim Hammonds, President of the Food
Marketing Institute; and Mary Alice McKenzie, Chairman of the American Meat
Institute and President of McKenzie of Vermont.

     Details of the campaign's unveiling are as follows:

     Date:      Friday, October 24, 1997
   
     Time:      10:00 a.m. (EST)
    
     Location:  U.S. Department of Agriculture
                Jefferson Auditorium
                1400 Independence Avenue, S.W.
                1st Floor South Agricultural Building
                Washington, D.C. 20250


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