Food Safety

Cross posted from FoodSafety.gov: More than 15 million school-aged children are home alone after school. That means they’ll be making their own afterschool snacks, without anyone supervising their creative concoctions. Will your kids be eating on their own during the week? If so, you might want to...

Cross posted from the FoodSafety.gov blog: We look forward all year to our summer vacations. Whether you’re camping, hitting the beach, boating, or relaxing in a mountain cabin or beach house, you’ll probably be packing food. Plan Ahead When planning meals for a vacation, think about buying shelf...

Here in Washington, D.C., and probably where you live too, it is hot! This week’s Check Your Steps blog focuses on a timely food safety step—Chill. You may feel like this guy, but in reality we don’t recommend keeping your food cold with fans, no matter how many you can find. Bacteria grow rapidly...

For the past two Tuesdays as part of the Food Safe Families campaign, I’ve blogged about two basic food safety steps that are important but easy to implement in your food prep routine— cook and clean. Today, I’m going to focus on preventing a sneaky food safety hazard that can happen at many points...

Bacteria exist everywhere in our environment, and some of them can make us really sick. Illness-causing bacteria exist in or on food, on countertops, kitchen utensils, hands, pets, and in the dirt where food grows. As part of the Food Safe Families campaign, this week’s Check Your Steps blog focuses...

Today, USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services launched a true first for our departments and our nation’s public health system. USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service partnered with the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Ad Council...

The 2011 Hurricane Season officially began June 1. If you live in a coastal area, it’s important to be prepared, particularly when it comes to safe food and water. The best strategy for you and your family is to always have a plan in place that everyone knows and that includes these food and water...

Cross posted from the FoodSafety.gov blog: On May 24, USDA made some important changes in their recommended cooking temperatures for meats. Here’s what you need to know:

Millions of those who receive nutrition assistance from the federal government are children. Nothing is more important than the health and well-being of our kids and so, at USDA, we are working to ensure that kids are being served safe, high quality meals. To emphasize this priority, Secretary...

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from USDA’s rich science and research portfolio. Here’s a vision fit for a nightmare: a “family reunion” of every type of Escherichia coli.