Partnership for Food Safety Education

FightBAC!

Dr. Elisabeth Hagen, former USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety

elizabeth_9c6c9f0d4441c0684384ff7f2814153d

Dr. Elisabeth Hagen is the former Under Secretary for Food Safety at USDA. She oversees policies and programs at the Food Safety and Inspection Service. Prior to her appointment as Under Secretary in August 2010, she served as USDA’s Chief Medical Officer, advising on a range of issues such as food safety, nutrition, and zoonotic diseases.

To me, there is no more fundamental function of government than to keep its people safe from harm. At the U.S. Department of Agriculture, my job in the Office of Food Safety is to protect the health of more than 300 million Americans through a strong food safety system. I have been personally charged by Secretary Vilsack to look at every possible way to reduce foodborne illness and I am looking forward to working with all of you in executing this critical mission.

Prevention has to be the foundation of everything we do. With that as a foundation, we need to activate the most powerful tools at our disposal, including quality data. We also need to engage and involve people because they are the reason all of this matters.

USDA is committed to a proactive approach to food safety. We are building on the tools we have, and identifying additional ones we need to protect consumers. This includes quick, accurate information around recalls and outbreaks. It also means educating consumers about safe food handling.

People hear stories of foodborne illness, and the next question is always “What can I do? What steps can I do to decrease the risk for my family?” As a mom, I’m always looking for information that will empower me to keep my kids healthy, safe, and happy. When I was in private practice, my patients were always seeking similar information about steps they could take to reduce the risk of preventable diseases. USDA’s food safety education programs, hotlines, online databases, and consumer outreach materials are all aimed at helping consumers handle and prepare food safely. Last year we reached more than 4 million consumers with our safe handling and public health messages, through traditional and new media.

We have a terrific opportunity to reach many more Americans on the topic of safe food handling and good health through a new partnership with the Ad Council. Through the partnership, we will produce a multi-media, bilingual, national public service ad campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of foodborne illnesses and to get people to consistently practice safe food handling at home. We are working with many of you on this Ad Council campaign and I’m very hopeful it will be a great success through your efforts to connect with consumers: where they live, work, and where they shop for food.

A foodborne illness can cause irreparable harm. The impact of a serious foodborne illness is felt beyond its immediate impact in terms of higher health care costs and lost wages. As a medical doctor, I’ve seen the impact of foodborne illness first-hand. I’m reminded of it every time I sit across the table from someone who lost their son or daughter to E. coli O157:H7.

A single pathogen can leave a lot of damage in its wake. The cost of foodborne illness is just too high—especially when you consider that it is preventable. I look forward to working with you as a partner in doing everything we can, together, to prevent foodborne illness.

Nancy Donley, STOP Foodborne Illness

nancy_f3573bccfcbc1627a74cce4071442dbe

Nancy Donley is recognized as a leading proponent of improvement in both government and private food safety efforts. Nancy works in a volunteer capacity for STOP Foodborne Illness (formerly S.T.O.P.—Safe Tables Our Priority) and has served as its president for over 10 years. Nancy serves on the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection.

As the President of STOP Foodborne Illness, a national, grassroots, non-profit public health organization whose mission is to prevent illness and death from pathogens in the food supply, my work involves building awareness of foodborne risk and its management. Our members include families who have suffered illness and loss from a broad spectrum of food types. I personally became involved in the issue of food safety after the death of my 6-year-old son, Alex, from E. coli O157:H7 poisoning from contaminated meat in 1993.

Over the years, STOP has significantly improved public health by raising awareness about foodborne pathogens, advocating for stricter regulations and assisting those personally impacted by foodborne illness. We regularly work with and inform receptive food industry trade groups and companies, national and local media, government representatives on both sides of the aisle, as well as the USDA, FDA, and the CDC. We hold congressional forums and panels with legislators, those affected by foodborne illness and professionals from a diverse range of disciplines, such as physicians and meat inspectors.

While STOP’s core work involves advocating for stronger public health-based policies to prevent contaminated food from making its way into the marketplace in the first place, we recognize that there is no such thing as 100% safe food and that consumers must be armed with information to best protect themselves from contracting foodborne illness. The work of the Partnership for Food Safety Education plays a vital role in the chain of risk management. It raises consumer awareness of risks in food and provides home safe food handling practices. Consumers need to know what they can do, in their homes, to protect their families when preparing meals. Simply put, food preparers need to know about the potential consequences and core practices to protect their families from illness as best as they can. We are excited to see that the Partnership is pursuing measurement of safe food handling behaviors and improving outcomes in food safety education. STOP is proud to work with the Partnership in their strategic initiative process to improve effectiveness in food safety education.