To improve food safety, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources studies every link in the food chain, from producers' farms to consumers' kitchens.
A new UC study is looking at small to medium-size farms, both organic and conventional production, to identify on-farm food safety practices that are specific to farms that raise livestock and grow fresh produce. These are farms that sell their products directly to consumers at farm stands and farmers markets or through community supported agriculture (CSA).
“Much of the produce food-safety research in recent years has focused on large commercial farms,” said project co-leader Michele Jay-Russell, microbiologist...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
‘Tis the season for gathering with friends and family and eating. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or Festivus for the rest of us, many of us invite people to our homes during the holidays and leave food out to graze. Leaving food out for more than two hours can be hazardous to your health and that of your guests, caution UC Cooperative Extension nutrition experts.
You may be thinking, “My family has eaten food that has been sitting on the table longer than two hours and survived.” Consider yourself lucky.
“We keep learning more about foodborne illness,” says Patti Wooten Swanson, UC...
- Author: Iqbal Pittalwala
Last month, I attended ScienceWriters2014, a joint meeting of the National Association of Science Writers, Inc, and the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing, in Columbus, Ohio. Held in cooperation with The Ohio State University, the conference attracted 430 freelancers, students, editors, staff journalists, public information officers and other lovers of science and science-writing. I had applied for a public information officer travel fellowship to attend it, and was fortunate to be awarded one by the NASW, greatly facilitating my attendance.
One of the events that attendees could sign up for...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
- Author: Norma De la Vega
A lack of information and misinterpretation of the dates on food labels leads to a tremendous amount of unnecessary food waste, said Chutima Ganthavorn, UC Cooperative Extension nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor in Riverside County.
There are no federal guidelines for dating food products; 20 states have laws on the books about food dating, but they are inconsistent.
“Dates on manufactured food products usually indicate how long the food can be kept on store shelves for best quality, but it is unrelated...
- Author: Karen Nikos-Rose, (530) 752-6101, kmnikos@ucdavis.edu
While most consumers are very aware of food safety issues, including salmonella, and the risk of foodborne illness, many do not follow recommended food safety practices in preparing their own meals at home, according to new research from UC Davis.
The study, which examined preparation of raw poultry, found that the most common risks stemmed from cross contamination and insufficient cooking.
“The most surprising aspect of these findings to me was the prevalence of undercooking,” said Christine Bruhn, director of the Center for Consumer research at UC Davis, who authored the study. “We are now in summer, the peak season for foodborne illness, and these results...