Milling & Baking News - October 25, 2016 - 24

Industry Activities X

U.S. households that were food insecure in 2015 declined significantly to
12.7% from 14% in 2014. The 2015 percentage continued a downward trend
from a high of 14.9% in 2011 but still
was above the pre-recessionary level
of 11.1% in 2007.
Food insecurity refers to American
households whose access to food is
limited by a lack of money and other
resources. In 2015, 15.8 million households were food insecure and had difficulty at some time during the year
providing enough food for all family
members, according to the U.S.D.A.

"Malnutrition impacts children and
families around the world, whether
through under nutrition, nutritional
deficiencies or the growing global
problem of obesity," said Al Mitchell, president of Monsanto Fund. "By
providing increased access to healthy
foods during those important first
years of life, Healthy Food Alliance for
Early Education addresses the double burden of malnutrition and lays
the foundation for children to carry
healthy eating habits into adulthood.
"Monsanto Fund's support for this
program extends beyond the farm as

Millers explore reaching out to
consumers for food safety
MIDDLEBURG, VA. - A food recall
may be an opportunity to have a dialogue with consumers, Shelley Feist,
executive director at the Partnership
for Food Safety Education (PFSE), told
participants at the North American
Millers' Association Annual Meeting
held at the Salamander Resort and Spa.
After a year that has seen a number
of recalls and food safety issues, it is
important for flour millers to know
that there are resources and partnerships available to them that may be
utilized to educate and communicate
with consumers on best practices for
cooking with flour.
Spreading information
On Sept. 9 Ms. Feist spoke to the
assembled millers about how her organization is working to spread information about food safety. The PFSE
is a coalition of companies, associations and government agencies from
across the food spectrum focused on
educating and supporting health and
food safety educators. Ms. Feist said
her group utilizes these educators as a
conduit for food safety information to
the consumer.
The food safety educators the PFSE
targets include academia, the K-12
school system, public health groups
and the food retail sector. The organization utilizes free webinars,
knowledgeX events and free consumer food safety education materials that
may be found at www.fightbac.org.
A contributing partner to the PFSE,
NAMA's relationship has been vital
due to the challenges faced by the industry in 2016.
"Food recalls are often an opportunity to talk about handling or cross
contamination," Ms. Feist said.
24 / October 25, 2016 XMilling & Baking News

When the flour recall story dominated the national media, Ms. Feist said
PFSE communicated about the fact
that flour is a raw commodity, cookies
need to be cooked, and don't eat raw
dough.
"The evolution of what we have
been doing is that it is really best done
with individual companies engaged in

Feist

a moment," she said. "Yes, associations
are great, but as you know they mostly
exist to deal with policy matters, regulatory issues and in some cases marketing. We felt it important for us to
work directly with companies who see
consumer education as an extension of
their commitment to safety."
PFSE has a number of initiatives
coming up later this year and early
next year. In early 2017, the organization will hold a Consumer Food Safety
Education Conference, and it will
make available an evaluation toolkit
on its web site.
Ms. Feist noted in her speech that
the PFSE will partner with sponsors
Cargill, the Frozen Food Foundation,

we work with dietitians, non-profits
and others in the food supply chain
to increase the availability, access and
consumption of a variety of protein
sources, fruits and vegetables. Teaming
with the American Heart Association
will help us better understand how to
encourage healthy diets among consumers, identify obstacles to healthy
eating and provide assistance to children and families who need help."
For more information about the program, including resources for early childhood programs, parents and families,
visit www.healthywaytogrow.org. MBN
Nestle USA, Coca-Cola and Publix
Super Markets, as well as the public
health community, to launch "The
Story of Your Dinner" during the 2016
fall holiday season. The campaign will
focus on partnering with consumers to
promote simple actions everyone may
take to reduce the risk of foodborne illness, she said.
"Rather than just coming out to the
consumer and saying 'OK, you need
to practice safe handling at home,' we
are portraying them in the chain of
prevention," she said. "The chain of
prevention extends into the home."
The campaign is set to launch Nov. 1.
in the southeastern portion of the United States, targeting Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina,
South Carolina and Tennessee.
Useful tips provided
The program will include useful athome tips through the following campaign activities:
* "The Story of Your Dinner" video
will explore the "chain of prevention"
from farm and processing to retail and
the family dinner table.
* "Kid-friendly" activity placemats
featuring food safety messages will be
distributed in partnership with health
and food safety educators.
* Recipe cards for Southern-style
side dishes, complete with food safety
steps, will be created in collaboration
with participating food bloggers.
* Rewards through participation in
a social media consumer sweepstakes
will be given to those submitting their
best "turkey hand" artistic creations.
* Educational materials designed
for easy dissemination through social
media and digital communications
will be created for use by the public
health industry.
Ms. Feist noted that if the pilot campaign is successful, PFSE will move to
take the campaign national in 2017. MBN
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

http://www.healthywaytogrow.org http://www.fightbac.org http://www.bakingbusiness.com http://www.world-grain.com

Milling & Baking News - October 25, 2016

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