About Us
What are Master Food Preservers?
The University of California Cooperative Extension provides information and training on food safety and preservation through its UC Master Food Preserver program.
UC Master Food Preservers are volunteers trained by the University of California in approved food preservation methods and food safety standards. Volunteers are certified to answer questions, present demonstrations and workshops, and develop educational materials, publications, and web resources on all aspects of home food preservation, including canning, freezing, drying, pickling, and preparing jams and jellies.
Our program only teaches safe, tested processes. Each year thousands of people will contract a food-borne illness. The MFP program is our way to help prevent people from getting sick from bad preservation and food handling practices!
If you have questions about whether a practice is safe, or if you are interested in learning about other preservation techniques, even if it is not a practice we can teach, we can point you to other resources that may help you.
Our local MFP program was established in 2014. (Our next class is planned for 2023.) To find out more, please see Become A UC Master Food Preserver or send an email to immg@ucanr.edu.
To learn about other MFP programs in California that may be near you, please consult this list.