The Partnership for Food Safety Education (PFSE) is marking National Food Safety Education Month with new The Story of Your Dinner consumer food safety tools created with the support of Cargill, Costco Wholesale, and the Frozen Food Foundation. The Story of Your Dinner campaign supports families in enjoying safe, fun, and tasty meals at home.

The Story of Your Dinner campaign includes shareable materials for consumers, the food industry, and the Partnership’s active network of 13,000 BAC Fighters. The BAC Fighter network includes dietitians, cooperative extension specialists, caregivers, and public health officials who together deliver food safety education to millions of people in the United States each year.

“Food poisoning is more common than people realize. The Story of Your Dinner offers great content built from research showing that if food safety prompts are in recipes, people will follow them,” says Shelley Feist, PFSE executive director. “Now in its fourth year, we’re excited to further engage our BAC Fighter educators’ network to share new tools and resources to educate millions of families on this important topic.”

U.S. health and food safety educators prevent thousands of illnesses each year by teaching people about handwashing, reducing cross-contamination, and ensuring food is cooked to safe internal temperatures.

To further leverage the effective network of health and food safety educators, PFSE is launching its first-ever BAC Fighter Challenge, running September 16 through December 16. The three-month challenge rewards public health and non-profit educators for sharing The Story of Your Dinner materials in their communities for a chance to win a cash prize throughout the campaign.

Materials for this year’s program include:

• Animated video expanding on the “clean” step of the Core Four (other steps include separate, cook and chill).
• Animated “chain of prevention” video to help consumers understand all that is done to keep food safe, and simple steps to take at home to reduce risk of food poisoning.
• Printable recipes with photos developed by leading food bloggers
• Sharable recipe videos and printable recipes cards developed by Partnership for Food Safety Education
• Printable flyer on food safety for home holiday parties and buffets.
• Infographic on proper food handling tips when baking.
• Food safety activity sheets and placemats for kids.
• Social media graphics and content.

“One in six Americans get sick with a foodborne illness each year, with children under age 7 being at a higher risk,” says Kathy Means, PFSE Board chairperson and Produce Marketing Association vice president of demand creation and consumer affairs. “We are working to reduce this statistic by sharing educational animated videos, family-friendly recipes, activity sheets, fun graphics and more.”

For more campaign information and resources, visit StoryOfYourDinner.org.