When it comes to Safe Poultry Handling—Don’t Wing It

By: Ashley Eisenbeiser, MS, CFS, Director, Food and Product Safety Programs, Food Marketing Institute 

According to U.S. Grocer Shopper Trends 2016, 94 percent of shoppers trust their grocery store to help ensure that the food they purchase is safe. Despite this high confidence, product contamination can still occur after purchase. Grocery stores are well positioned to serve as a resource to shoppers and many stores share food safety information with their shoppers to help ensure the chain of prevention extends into the home. 

To help with food safety education efforts, the Partnership for Food Safety Education is launching a new campaign, Don’t Wing It. Don’t Wing It is designed to help consumers reduce the risk of foodborne illness for themselves and their families by practicing safe poultry handling in-store and at home. This campaign will include a collection of tools to help retailers share messages about safe poultry handling, cooking and storage with their customers. 

If you are interested in learning how consumers handle raw poultry and what retailers can do to encourage safe handling at the store and at home, join the Partnership for Food Safety Education for a webinar on Tuesday, April 18 at 1 p.m. ET to get a preview of the Don't Wing It campaign. Register here. 

For more information about safe poultry handling, call the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline, visit the USDA Ask Karen Website, or contact FMI Food Safety at foodsafetyteam@fmi.org.