Food safety gets more attention after terrorist attacks

Public health and safety today means tracking not only people…but food. Continuing education for cooks and servers could make your next meal safer. HACCP or “hassup”, is a program of monitoring food items served to the public, and ISU Consumer-Science specialist Dan Henroid says it’s all about safety.It’s a way of looking at food from the moment it comes in the door till it goes to the customer and how it’s handled and processed. Henroid just returned from a seminar on “HACCP” — Hazard Analysis at Critical Control Points, and says the goal is to serve safe food. He says biological things like bacteria, chemical like something that could fall into food, or a physical hazard. Henroid says training includes some eye-opening looks at the many ways food could become contaminated accidentally.In training they do a “white-powder” exercise, and give trainees baking soda, sugar, cleaning powder and other items, and they can’t guess which is which. Henroid says the exercise clarifies the need for good labeling and storage of everything in a food-preparation area. He adds this is no time to be making practical jokes or hoaxes about contamination of food or anything else.