Tag Archive for: food safety

Rediscover Food Preservation: Redesigned Website Empowers Consumers and Extension Professionals

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Interest in home food preservation has surged in recent years, fueled by more time spent at home and a desire for self-sufficiency. People are rediscovering traditional methods like canning, pickling, and drying to preserve their harvests and reduce food waste. 

But with this increased interest comes a crucial need for science-based information. Safe food preservation practices are essential to avoid foodborne illness and economic loss from spoiled food. This is especially important for the growing cottage food industry, which allows entrepreneurs to turn their skills into income, boosting local economies.

The National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP) has long been a critical resource for those seeking information about home food preservation, including Extension educators, consumers, and cottage food business owners. Established with funding from the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES-USDA) in 2000 as a multi-institutional effort with the University of Georgia and Alabama A&M University as the primary institutions, NCHFP reported that requests for validated home food preservation recipes shot up a whopping 620% in 2020 compared with 2019.

Thanks to funding from a USDA NIFA New Technologies for Ag Extension (NTAE) sub-award and support from the Extension Foundation, the NCHFP recently launched a redesigned website. This user-friendly resource empowers both home cooks and Extension professionals, offering clear instructions on various methods, from canning jams to fermenting vegetables. A robust resource section provides downloadable publications. Website visitors can also explore recipes and use the search function to find needed information.

Dr. Carla Schwan, Assistant Professor and Extension Food Safety Specialist at the University of Georgia, serves as the Center’s director. She noted:

“The NTAE sub-awards were instrumental in the development of our new National Center for Home Food Preservation website. It provided us with the resources necessary to enhance and add several key features, including a Newsflash feed, a dedicated educators page with exclusive content for Extension professionals, and an enhanced search function. Without this sub-award, completing this project wouldn’t have been possible.

Throughout the process, the NTAE team has been incredibly supportive and helpful. Key individuals such as Aaron Weibe, Fred Schlutt, and Tira Adelman were particularly instrumental in guiding us and providing valuable resources. Their expertise and dedication made a significant difference in the success of our website development initiative.“

A network of Extension professionals is building capacity

The demand for best food preservation practices inspired a group of Extension professionals to create a consortium to organize and expand their work. Specialists in home food preservation, small food businesses, and consumer and retail food safety from 13 Southeastern states launched the Food Safety Extension Network (FSEN) in 2021 to raise general awareness of the importance of preserving food safely and to be a resource for home cooks, small, independent food retailers, and home-based food preparation businesses. FSEN is building capacity, so that other universities can also contribute content and resources to the NCHFP website. You can learn more about FSEN’s’s work in this story, featured in the 2023 NTAE Yearbook. Participating institutions are University of Arkansas, Clemson University, University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Kentucky, North Carolina State University, Oklahoma State University, University of Tennessee, Virginia Tech University, Fort Valley State University, University of Maryland, Louisiana State University, Mississipi State University, Auburn University, and Alcorn State University. 

Dr. Schwan is involved in FSEN and notes, “The NTAE grant started this synergistic collaboration and we hope that by the end of it, we will have collective products and outcomes to share with consumers.” 

Visit the website NCHFP website here. 

 

Related Reading:

Community is Our Jam

Buy, Cook, Eat Local

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Unlock the Power of Game-Based Learning with New Mexico State Learning Games Lab – Register Now for Our Exclusive Webinar

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Research highlights the efficacy of game-based learning in educating youth. A team at New Mexico State University’s Learning Games Lab is applying that research, using their expertise in game-based learning to make food safety education exciting for the next generation of food handlers and enthusiasts.

Youth prepare food for themselves and their families and may have careers in the food industry. It’s important that they learn about safe food handling, cooking, storage, and when food is unsafe. Cue Theme Park Kitchen, an interactive online learning game designed to captivate and educate youth about food safety practices. Players can engage in different themed kitchens to serve delicious and safe meals to customers. It’s a redesign of “Ninja Kitchen,” launched in 2011 to teach kids food handling skills. The game’s designers focused on improving the game’s cultural sensitivity, working with youth to create a more inclusive reboot. The team’s work was supported by the New Technologies for Ag Extension program.

Sign up to attend an upcoming webinar where team members will share strategies about using gamification in education. It’s slated for Wednesday January 31st from 12-1 p.m. EST.  This exciting one-hour event will explore how gameplay fosters behavior change, and how the Learning Games Lab created Theme Park Kitchen using inclusive design for learning. Team members will share ways that educators and Extension professionals can use the game in formal and informal educational settings. Participants will also have an opportunity to test the game for their own use.

To learn more about the project, read this feature story about the team’s work. You can also take a deeper dive into the project’s specifics by reading a publication written about by the team: Teaching Youth Food Safety: A Game-Based Experience, available in the Extension Foundation’s library.

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New Publication Available: Teaching Youth Food Safety – A Game-Based Approach

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The Extension Foundation (EXF) has issued Teaching Youth Food Safety: A Game-Based Experience, a publication written by a team from the New Mexico State University Learning Games Lab. 

The publication details how the team is addressing food safety through game-based learning. Their ideas ties into research that indicates youth prefer to learn about food safety topics through interactive educational tools. The publication details how the team developed “Theme Park Cafe”, a food safety game for youth. In the game, players engage in different themed kitchens to serve delicious and safe meals to clients. It’s a redesign of “Ninja Kitchen,” launched in 2011 to teach kids food handling skills. In this publication, the game designers talk about increasing the game’s cultural sensitivity, working with kids to create the reboot, and other elements of using gamification to teach educational content. 

This new game, one of several food-related projects funded by the New Technologies in Ag Extension (NTAE) 2022-2023 grant program, is part of a growing trend in Extension: using multimedia products to educate and engage diverse audiences. 

The authors of the publication are: Barbara Chamberlin, PhD; Matheus Cezarotto, PhD; and Pamela Martinez, Ed.D, all from New Mexico State University.

This publication was produced through the New Technologies for Ag Extension (NTAE) program. NTAE is a cooperative agreement between USDA NIFA, Oklahoma State University, and the Extension Foundation. The goal of the New Technologies for Ag Extension (NTAE) grant is to incubate, accelerate, and expand promising work that will increase the impact of the Cooperative Extension System (CES) in the communities it serves, and provide models that can be adopted or adapted by Extension teams across the nation.

You can learn more about the team’s work in this recent feature article – Leveling Up – published in October 2023. The team also wrote about an alternative to full game design – the game jam process – in an earlier publication. You can access that publication here.

The Extension Foundation has released two dozen publications this fall, including the 2022-2023 NTAE Yearbook, which presents the work of dozens of Extension project teams from across the U.S. in a lively magazine format. You can find the entire library of publications (now numbering nearly five dozen) here.

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Extension Foundation Releases Five New Titles

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The Extension Foundation has added five new titles to its publications library. The brief publications – written as magazine-style feature stories – share project work funded through the New Technologies for Ag Extension (NTAE) program, a cooperative agreement between USDA NIFA, Oklahoma State University, and the Extension Foundation. NATE’s goal is to incubate, accelerate, and expand promising work that will increase the impact of the Cooperative Extension System (CES) in the communities it serves, and provide models that can be adopted or adapted by Extension teams across the nation. 

Each of the publications is excerpted from the New Technologies for Ag Extension 2022-2023 Yearbook, an 83-page magazine, which shares how these grant projects improve human, environmental, and community health. 

“Pollen Power” shares the story of “Pollinator Superheroes,” an animated series created by the National Pesticide Safety Education Center and its partners (including Pawnee Nation College, Nebraska Indian Community College, and Prairie View A&M). The series is intended for Native American elementary students in Nebraska and Oklahoma—not only to inspire youth to identify and protect bees, bats, and butterflies but to reinforce to them that their actions, cultures, and native languages matter. This publication describes the series and how multiple partners collaborated to create it.

“They Can Do Hard Things” details a program developed by a team from Utah State University, designed to help youth build confidence in their ability to survive adverse childhood experiences and thrive in any circumstance, through activities that push them out of their comfort zone in a safe and supportive environment. This publication describes what the team learned as they created the program and why this kind of youth development is so important.

“Teaching Money Matters” explores the work of the Financial Literacy Team at West Virginia University Extension. Their curriculum teaches children and adults basic financial concepts and risks, so that they are empowered to make the most informed decisions about how to save, invest, and manage debt. This publication documents how the team worked with its NTAE advisors to increase the flexibility of the curriculum and equip Extension educators to teach the material in a way that meets the unique needs of individual communities. 

“Breaking the Cycle”. Educators at University of Nevada, Reno Extension created a program called “Heart & Hope” to provide a safe place for domestic violence survivors to learn skills for creating healthy home environments. In this publication, team members talk about the critical need for this service and how they work with this sensitive population.

“Leveling Up” shares the story of the innovative work being done by a team at New Mexico State University’s Learning Games Lab. “Theme Park Cafe” is a food safety game for youth created by the team. It enables players to engage in different themed kitchens to serve delicious and safe meals to clients. It’s a redesign of “Ninja Kitchen,” launched in 2011, with an aim to teach youth food handling skills. In this publication, the game designers talk about increasing the game’s cultural sensitivity, working with youth to create the reboot, and other elements of using gamification to teach educational content. 

 

The Extension Foundation carries dozens of titles in its library. Four to five additional publications are slated to hit the shelf each week through the end of November. Sign up to receive publication notifications here. You can find the entire library of publications here.

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Extension Foundation Releases Four New NTAE Titles

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Four new titles are available on the Extension Foundation’s website. The brief publications – written as magazine-style feature stories – share project work funded through the New Technologies for Ag Extension (NTAE) program, a cooperative agreement between USDA NIFA, Oklahoma State University, and the Extension Foundation. The goal of NTAE is to incubate, accelerate, and expand promising work that will increase the impact of the Cooperative Extension System (CES) in the communities it serves, and provide models that can be adopted or adapted by Extension teams across the nation. 

Each of the publications is excerpted from the New Technologies for Ag Extension 2022-2023 Yearbook, an 83-page magazine, which shares how these grant projects improve human, environmental, and community health. The Yearbook shares innovative Cooperative Extension work across the U.S., from technology to composting to youth development to health and equity. In addition, the publication shares information about the vital work undertaken by ECOP’s Program Action Teams.

  • University of Illinois – Community Seminar Series. The University of Illinois Extension launched the Community Seminar Series in 2020 and has been refining and expanding it ever since. A collaboration between U of I Extension and U of I’s Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute (IHSI), the CSS is an effective way to educate the public on health topics and give students majoring in health fields a chance to build their expertise, through developing and presenting the seminars. This story provides a brief overview of the goals and strategies of this program.

 

  • University of California ANR – Community is Our Jam. Through virtual and in-person workshops, participants in the University of California Master Food Preserver program learn about reducing food waste and about safe food storage, preparation, and preservation methods. This feature describes how the team has focused on equity, broadening their program’s audience and impact and the lessons the team has learned while developing the program. 

 

  • Penn State University – Buy, Cook, Eat Local. While changing food habits isn’t easy, learning how to cook healthy food using farm fresh ingredients may help people improve their diets. An innovative program that Penn State Extension educators launched in spring 2023 is lowering barriers to healthy eating by introducing people to fresh produce and other local foods. This story describes how the program works and how the team collaborates in the community, specifically with farmer’s markets, to accomplish its goals.

 

  • The National Center for Home Food Preservation: Because We Can. Specialists in consumer and retail food safety from nine Southeastern land-grant universities launched the Food Safety Extension Network in 2021 to raise general awareness of the importance of preserving food safely and to be a resource for home cooks, small, independent food retailers, and home-based food preparation businesses. This piece gives an overview of how the Network was built and how it expects to operate. Participating institutions are: University of Arkansas, Clemson University, University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Kentucky, North Carolina State University, Oklahoma State University, University of Tennessee, and Virginia Tech University.

The Extension Foundation carries dozens of titles in its library. Four to five additional publications are slated to hit the shelf each week through the end of November. Sign up to receive publication notifications here. You can find the entire library of publications here.

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Tag Archive for: food safety

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