food safety

Turducken. The name doesn’t sound appetizing, but once you cut into the triple layers of chicken, duck and turkey, you can see why people bypass the traditional Thanksgiving turkey for this all-in-one, mega-stuffed delicacy.

Last year, more than 46 million turkeys were carved and eaten at Thanksgiving. Turkey is typically accompanied by a host of side dishes and desserts, making the Thanksgiving meal by far one of the largest meals most people will cook this year.

With work, school, sports practices, music lessons and homework time filling up the calendar, the back-to-school season can be hectic. During this busy time of year, having dinner waiting for you when you come home can make life so much easier. That’s why a lot of people choose to use slow cookers. No more standing in front of the refrigerator trying to make decisions about what to have for dinner after a long day at work. No more trying to balance food prep and homework. Just throw the ingredients in the slow cooker before work and turn it on!

Kibbeh is a Middle Eastern and North African dish traditionally prepared with a combination of red meat, usually beef or lamb, raw onion, cracked wheat, and spices. Although there are some versions of the dish that are baked or fried (such as Kibbeh raas, quipe, Kubba halab, or Kibbeh bil sinieh), others (like Kibbeh nayyeh) are prepared and served raw.

Fall is a great time to get outdoors — the weather is mild, and there are so many great activities to choose from: picnics in the park, hiking, apple picking and every sports fan’s favorite — tailgating. But even the most devoted fan could be sidelined with foodborne illness if they’re not careful with food preparation and storage. When planning your tailgate or other outdoor activity this fall, follow these food safety tips:

Secretary Perdue has proclaimed September “National Food Safety Education Month (PDF, 346 KB)“. To celebrate, USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service is developing innovative food safety trainings for school nutrition professionals and honoring training graduates like Barbara Griffiths MSBA, RD, SNS, who make safe and nutritious foods a priority in their programs.  As a graduate of USDA’s Produce Safety University, Griffiths has learned to source local fruits and vegetables from growers within her community and turn them into innovative menu items!

It’s September, which means the kids are back in school. They will be taught reading, writing and arithmetic, but there’s one lesson they might not be getting in the classroom – proper hand washing. This month, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue signed a proclamation (PDF, 346 KB) naming September National Food Safety Education Month. As part of that effort, USDA is encouraging parents, teachers and caregivers to help prevent the spread of foodborne illness (or food poisoning), by using proper handwashing techniques to avoid bringing germs from the playground to the dinner table.

The last severe weeks have shown how devastating natural disaster can be. In Texas and Louisiana, hundreds of thousands of people were left without electricity and billions of dollars of property damage was sustained from Hurricane Harvey. Shortly after, Hurricane Irma became one of the strongest hurricanes ever, barreling through the Caribbean and southeastern U.S. In light of these recent disasters, it’s important to remember there are simple steps you can take to minimize food loss and reduce your risk of foodborne illness during and after severe weather and power outages.

As a working mom of four boys, ages 8 and under, I’m asked on a near-daily basis: “how do you DO it?!” It’s a carefully orchestrated dance: keeping my family fed, healthy, dropped off at school and daycare at the appropriate times, with their respective accompaniments, whether homework, snacks or lunches. And then in the evening, allowing opportunity to focus on homework and dinner, without sacrificing quality family time. Making this happen on a daily basis takes a keen attention to detail, a little luck and some advanced planning.

The Forest Service has 193 million acres of beautiful national forests and grasslands for all of us to visit and summer is a great time to do get outside and enjoy them. The water is more comfortable for a swim, the weather is warmer, and in most places, the kids are out of school.