Food Safety: Farm-to-Fork

You’ll find much more than you probably ever wanted to know about the safety of our food supply on the newly launched Penn State Food Safety Web Site (foodsafety.cas.psu.edu), developed by Penn State University’s Department of Food Science. Using the banner “Food Safety Throughout the Food System,” the site is designed to serve as an informational resource for educators, consumers and members of the food industry, and includes—among other things—an editorial/informational database containing more than 1300 links to online food safety resources.

The database is divided into sections of interest to growers, processors, consumers and the food service and retail industries. From there each section is broken into catagories based on types of food, chemical and biological hazards, hazard control methods and current technologies.

Food service workers can use the Penn State Food Safety database to link to sites addressing the regulatory guidelines for restaurants, daycares, and schools. Processors can use the database to search for updated information on Good Manufacturing Practices, cleaning and sanitizing procedures, and HACCP policies. Consumers can brush up on food safety precautions in the home, or link to related sites in search of answers to safe food preparation questions. And for those consumers interested in home Food Preservation, the database provides information on safe methods of canning, freezing, drying, curing and pickling, etc.

Indeed, the Penn State Food Safety Web site, holds all the answers—from farm to fork!