new media

By Aneesh Chopra - Federal Chief Technology Officer

We hope you had a joyful (and food-safe) holiday meal. We suspect that like most of us you’ll be enjoying the goodies for days to come.

One highlight of our run-up to the holiday was our live Facebook chat on food safety on Nov. 12. USDA food safety expert Diane Van took questions on a variety of topics, but there were quite a few about handling leftovers.

A sampling of Diane’s answers that will help you stay food-safe for some folks’ favorite meals of the holiday season:

Agriculture groups find voice in social media

"I'm trying to be a modern deputy here," said Kathleen Merrigan, deputy secretary of Agriculture, during the department's first monthly Facebook live chat earlier this month. She's not the only ag player trying to take the plunge into social media. In the last year, many farm lobbying groups have established a presence on Facebook and Twitter in an effort to reach out to farmers. Americans farmers are old and getting older, with an average age of 57.1 in 2007, up from 55.3 in 2002. Social media, like most technology trends, is still thought of as the domain of young people, but the two fastest-growing age demographics on Facebook are 35- to 54-year-olds and those 55 and above, according to a Jan. 2009 analysis by iStrategyLabs, an online marketing company. (National Journal 10/19/09 link)

Last week USDA brought you a series of events and announcements to roll out the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative (KYF2). Today, we’re excited to bring it all together with a new Website for consumers and producers.

Do you want to make healthier food choices, but aren’t sure where to start?

USDA has three new on-line tools and sites that can get you going:

We’re happy to announce today the re-launch of the FoodSafety.gov website, a single place to find food safety information from across the government. Think of it as a kind of “one-stop-shop” offering everything you need to stay food-safe and healthy.