NACS is a contributing partner of the nonprofit Partnership for Food Safety Education (PFSE) to help educate consumers on the steps they can take when handling food and reducing the risk of a foodborne illness.
According to the CDC, an estimated one in six Americans contracts a foodborne illness every year, and 128,000 Americans are hospitalized every year because of these illnesses. With more consumers eating away from home and on the go, protecting consumers is increasingly driving convenience retailers to enhance their companywide focus on a food protection culture. Retailers can also help their customers practice safe food handling inside their home.
Through the PFSE website, NACS members can access free, downloadable resources to help consumers navigate steps to minimizing risks related to food safety. These resources include information such as fact sheets on the core four practices for food safety:
- Clean: Wash hands and surfaces often
- Separate: Don’t cross-contaminate
- Cook: Cook to the safe internal temperature
- Chill: Refrigerate promptly
Now that summertime is in full swing, PFSE offers resources for consumers while on road trips. The “Food Safety on the Move” flyer communicates the importance of storing food safely while traveling, particularly in hot climates, with the following suggestions:
- Bring soap for hand washing.
- Transport coolers in the air-conditioned passenger compartment, not in a hot trunk.
- Don’t let food sit out: Perishable foods should not be left out of refrigeration for more than two hours and reduce that to just one hour on a hot day (90+˚F).
- Pack plenty of ice or ice packs in a cooler to keep food cold. Leftover food is safe only if the cooler still has ice in it. Otherwise, discard leftovers.
- Keep raw meat wrapped and separate from cooked foods, fruits and vegetables.
- Use a food thermometer to make sure food is cooked to a safe internal temperature.
PFSE also shares information that “mythbusts” some commonly held beliefs about food storage and preparation inside the home. For example, should you rinse poultry prior to cooking? No! Rinsing poultry increases the chances of spreading raw juices around the kitchen—cooking poultry to 165˚F is the only way to kill bacteria.
And remember, September is Food Safety Education Month. Check out the food safety resources at www.fightbac.org for free resources to share with your customers as well as your employees. For more information about PFSE and NACS participation, reach out to Chris Blasinsky at [email protected].
IN THE COMMUNITY
Weigel’s kicked off its fourth annual “More Wags for Warriors” store fundraising campaign on Memorial Day to support Smoky Mountain Service Dogs, a 10-acre site in Lenoir City, Tennessee, with a mission to enhance the physical and psychological quality of life for veterans with service-related disabilities through the training and placement of highly trained service dogs. “It is our goal to raise the funds to train one service dog and be able to have more service dogs available for our local veterans through this program,” said Bill Weigel, chairman of Weigel’s.
Circle K and Coca-Cola Consolidated gave away three Toyota Camrys to three teachers in the Charlotte Mecklenburg School District in North Carolina as part of Circle K’s “A Driving Force for Education” contest, while 20 additional teachers were given $500 to refresh their classrooms.
Parker’s donated $25,000 to Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools as part of the company’s Fueling the Community charitable initiative, which donates a portion of the proceeds from gas sold on the first Wednesday of each month to area schools. The check presentation took place at Godley Station K-8 School in Pooler, Georgia.
Rutter’s annual Children’s Charities Golf Outing raised more than $325,000 for Central Pennsylvania charities. “We could not be more grateful to our supplier partners for their attendance and support of our Annual Golf Outing,” stated Rutter’s President and CEO Scott Hartman. “Their support allows us the opportunity to give back through the Rutter’s Children’s Charities initiative.” In the past decade, Rutter’s Children’s Charities has donated nearly $7 million to support the local communities it serves.