Mary Alice Gettings, senior extension agent in Beaver County, teaches ServSafe to food service employees and offers a food safety program for local nonprofit organizations. “After people finish the course, they come back and say that it should be required for everyone who serves food,” she says. “They say, ‘I learned so much, I didn’t know this was so important.’”

Larry Sulpizio, regional supervisor in the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Food Safety and Laboratory Services, and Dan Pirofsky, sanitarian with the department, discuss safe food-handling techniques for Chinese restaurants with extension agent Marg Malehorn, who helped organize food safety certification training for Chinese-American food service workers.

One beneficiary of Gettings’ course for volunteers is Ed Robinson, who runs the kitchen at Big Knob Grange in Beaver County. “Six or seven of us from the grange work dinners throughout the year and at fair time in September,” he says. “A lot of food goes through our kitchen. At first, we were all hesitant about this course, but we went anyway. I have to say that we learned a great deal.”

Through videos, books, and class discussions, Robinson says, participants gained new knowledge about food handling, such as the safe way to cool large quantities of food. Some of what they learned served to reinforce what they were already doing. “We always had thermometers on our aprons, and it looked good if the inspector came in, but we didn’t always use them,” Robinson says. “But we learned that the thermometers can be a real lifesaver in ensuring that foods are the right temperature and that meats are cooked all the way through. Now we make good use of them.”

Robinson says that when class participants brought their new knowledge back to the grange kitchen, not all of the cooks were immediately receptive. “When we talked about the things we learned, some of the others didn’t take to it so well. They’d say, ‘We’ve been doing this for years—we don’t need you to tell us how to do it.’ It was a little bit of a challenge to get them to change their habits.”

Dana McElroy plans to address that challenge in the curriculum for volunteer workers by including a section on “people skills,” such as how to motivate workers to change their behaviors and how to deal with difficult customers. “Changing behaviors is really the key to food safety, whether you’re an executive chef or the person who’s been cooking in the church for 30 years,” she says. “It can be very difficult to convince someone that they’re not doing something properly, and that after all these years they should change what they’re doing. We plan to give people tools to address that issue.”

While efforts to educate food retailers and others who prepare food for the public continue, other educational programs are under way for food processors, who must also comply with the Food Employee Certification Act if they are processing potentially hazardous foods. Products considered potentially hazardous include ready-made salads, cut fruits, tofu, shellfish, sushi, cider, and ice. Food scientists Luke LaBorde and Catherine Cutter are developing curricula that will meet the specific needs of processors.

“Pennsylvania is unique in that it has lots of small food processors,” says LaBorde, who specializes in fruit and vegetable processing. “We’re an agricultural state, but we’re close to major metropolitan areas so there’s a ready market for agricultural products. Small processors may not be able to spend $800 on a two-day food safety conference, so we want to provide a way for them to get the education they need.”

LaBorde and Cutter are developing a series of lectures as well as a written curriculum that can be tailored to processors of different commodities. “Processors will learn not only safe food handling techniques, but also how to add value to their product,” says LaBorde. “They can say to customers, ‘We’ve completed food safety training through Penn State,’ and even if they’re only making maple syrup, it’s a marketing plus.”

Cutter also is developing food safety materials specifically for meat and poultry processors. “We are really emphasizing the importance of sanitation in processing,” she says. “Sanitation crews are crucial in this industry.” One foodborne pathogen that can be a problem in meat processing is Listeria monocytogenes, which is associated with ready-to-eat foods, such as hot dogs and deli meat. Cutter is working with animal scientist William Henning on a publication, video, and workshops that will show processors how they can manage their equipment and employees to minimize listeria contamination.

Because hunting is such a popular sport in Pennsylvania, Cutter is also educating hunters about proper handling of game. In response to a flurry of calls she received from extension agents during a particularly warm hunting season, she developed a series of pamphlets for hunters and meat processors on field dressing, curing meats, smoking meats, how to make venison jerky, and more.

Cutter and her colleagues have also offered workshops on game meat safety to extension agents. “We have a deer carcass and cover all safety aspects, from harvest through cooking. A chef comes in and does cooking demonstrations in the Meats Lab on campus—he shows the class where the different cuts are located on the carcass and the appropriate cooking methods. Other instructors demonstrate how to can venison and how to make venison jerky and sausage. Then the extension agents take program elements back to their counties to share with their clients. It’s been a real success.”

From hunters to processors, restaurant workers to consumers, Penn State’s efforts to ensure the safety of our food supply span the entire food system. Each step of the way, from farm to table, is important. “We can’t rely on single steps to make our food safe,” says LaBorde. “There has to be accountability throughout the food system. Processors and retailers need to provide safe, sanitized products, while consumers need to buy the freshest-looking products from a reputable retailer, then practice safe food handling habits at home. Food safety is everyone’s responsibility.”

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Faculty and staff referenced in this article include Catherine Cutter, assistant professor of food science and food safety extension specialist; John Floros, professor and head of the Department of Food Science; Mary Alice Gettings, senior extension agent; Luke LaBorde, assistant professor of food science; Dana McElroy, food safety specialist; and Michelle Rodgers, director for the Capital Region of Penn State Cooperative Extension and affiliate assistant professor of agricultural extension. The Listeria workshops, video, and booklet mentioned in this article are co-sponsored by the American Association of Meat Processors (AAMP), Pennsylvania Association of Meat Processors (PAMP), and the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service.