Keeping Food Safe for the Holidays

There is a new CFSAN web page, Keeping Holiday Food & Drink Safe, which also covers FDA's regulatory policy on sending gifts of food and drink from other countries. The web page contains helpful tips for preparing holiday food safely for special gatherings, as well as links to related sites, such as foodsafety.gov, with additional advice.

JIFSAN Offers Online Risk Analysis Training

The Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN) is offering online short courses in Food Safety Risk Analysis. These courses provide high-quality training and the opportunity to interact with food safety professionals from around the world.

Beginning February 1:

• Our flagship courses, Overview of Risk Analysis and Introduction to Food Safety Risk Assessment.
• Introduction to Food Safety Risk Communication - piloted at a special one-time reduced fee.

For more information, please visit "Risk Analysis Training Opportunities from JIFSAN."

For questions, contact Judy Quigley, JIFSAN Conference and Communications Coordinator, , 301-405-1696.

JIFSAN is a partnership between the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the University of Maryland. The Professional Development Training Program in Food Safety Risk Analysis serves the risk analysis training needs of the U.S.FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, and is open to food safety professionals worldwide.

Website Launched to Teach Children Proper Handwashing

The Partnership for Food Safety Education has partnered with the not-for-profit National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) International on an initiative to call on kids nationwide to visit the new NSF Scrub Club website and learn how they can do their part in fighting the 164 million school sick days lost each year. The website features seven "soaper-heroes" from the Scrub Club^TM who are ready to teach children the proper way to wash their hands.

The Scrub Club^TM is an animated, interactive website developed by NSF International as a fun way for kids to learn the importance of washing hands to fight infectious and foodborne diseases. It is also an educational tool that parents and teachers can use to teach kids about proper handwashing, which is one of the most effective things that we can do to keep from getting sick and spreading illness to each other.

The cornerstone of the website is a "webisode" featuring the Scrub Club^TM as they join forces to fight off harmful germs and bacteria, teaching children the proper way to wash their hands along the way. The first "webisode," "The Good, the BAC, and the Ugly," finds the Scrub Club^TM battling the loathsome, but loveable, character BAC (from the Partnership for Food Safety Education's Fight BAC! campaign), and one of his partners in "grime" Sal Monella in a wild-west themed adventure. The Partnership for Food Safety Education, a non-profit organization, unites industry associations, consumer and public health groups and FDA, USDA, CDC, and EPA to educate the public about safe food handling and preparation.

Food Safety and Security Staff E-mail:

Office Number: (301) 436-2277· FAX (301) 436-2605 CFSAN Web site: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/