U.S – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has upgraded its Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) Education Resource Library to enable users to locate information faster and with more ease.
The online library provides consumers, industry, educators, dietitians, health professionals, and regulators with a catalog of more than 350 printable educational materials and videos on topics related to food safety, nutrition including labeling and dietary supplements, and agricultural biotechnology.
Design upgrades to the library include a new and improved cloud-based interface and key word search function.
The library upgrade coincides with the start of National Food Safety Education Month, observed every September to limelight foodborne illness prevention. Throughout the month of September and beyond, the FDA and other federal public health agencies will share resources like the FDA’s Education Resource Library to help promote safe food handling practices among consumers and industry to prevent the spread of foodborne illnesses.
The Federal government estimates that there are about 48 million cases of foodborne illness annually – that’s about 1 in 6 Americans each year. Each year, these illnesses result in an estimated 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths. Following simple food safety tips can help lower your chance of getting sick.
This library includes the Food Safety in Your Kitchen materials that provide food safety information to help in safe meal preparations. It also contains delicious recipes with built-in food safety steps, fact sheets, and tips on safe meal storage and shopping. Young adults can also leverage ‘the Everyday Food Safety materials’ to learn the basics of food safety. The materials include a helpful video and tip sheets on each of the steps involved.
The library materials are free of charge and available in PDF format for immediate download with a majority accessible in both English and Spanish languages.
Some print materials can be ordered and shipped individually or in limited quantities to only customers located in the United States or U.S territories.
The FDA had earlier in March updated its library’s nutrition content to include the new Nutrition Facts label which reflects updated scientific information, including the link between diet and chronic diseases such as obesity and heart disease. The new label makes it easier for consumers to make more informed food choices.
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