While food safety is important any time of year, proper food handling is essential for summer meals, especially when away from your home kitchen. Since any food-related illness can spoil a camping trip or family vacation, it is worth being extra careful with food in the summer. Fortunately, you can help keep food safe with four simple steps.

What we know

• Food-related illness is under-reported and misunderstood: One in six Americans get sick from a food-related illness every year. Many of them blame it on the flu or other “bug.”

• Looking, smelling, and tasting are not accurate ways to check if food is safe to eat:Food can look, smell, and taste fine – and be full of bacteria that make you very sick.

• Food safety involves four key steps: Any perishable food can be a place for disease-causing bacteria to grow. Visit www.homefoodsafety.org to learn more about the problem and, more importantly, the solutions!

What you can do

1: CLEAN – Wash hands often.

• When water is available, use biodegradable soap. Rub hands together for at least 20 seconds, scrubbing all parts thoroughly. Rinse with water and dry with paper towels.

• If water is not readily available, carry plenty of hand sanitizer and disposable wipes for cleaning hands carefully and often (before/after eating, touching animals, etc.).

2: SEPARATE – Keep raw meats and ready-to-eat foods separate.

• Cross contamination can occur in coolers, especially when juices from raw meat or poultry drip onto other foods. Double-wrap all meat products in sealable plastic bags.

• When preparing meat/poultry/fish for grilling, use separate dishes and utensils. Wash carefully before using the same items for cooked meats or other foods.

3: COOK – Cook to proper temperatures.

• Always use a digital or dial food thermometer in your camp kitchen. Ensure all that ground meat is safe to eat by cooking patties to an internal temperature of 160 °F.

• Cook all other beef/veal/pork/lamb/wild game to a minimum internal temperature of 145 °F. Cook all poultry to a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F.

4: CHILL – Refrigerate all perishables promptly to 40 °F or below.

• Take plenty of cold power (ice blocks, water frozen in plastic milk jugs, or gel packs) to keep cold foods COLD. In camp, keep the cooler in shade or covered with a tarp.

• Put ALL perishable and cooked foods into a cooler after 2 hours. For more tips, visit www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/food_safety_while_hiking_camping_&_boating/index.asp#9.

Welcome back to school! We hope that your summer provided a renewed energy for a wonderful school year! Healthy Kids Challenge wants to serve as your partner in health this year to bring health and wellness ALIVE. Whether your needs are nutrition education curriculum, staff training, wellness council support or resources, look to HKC for solutions!

The new school year is a great time to gather an existing wellness team or build a new team! Team up for wellness with the following Healthy Kids Challenge tips.

1. Get people on board
   1. Begin recruiting those who have expressed or demonstrated an interest in nutrition and physical activity. Start with whatever number of members you can.
   2. Brainstorm potential recruits who represent different groups: administrators, classroom teachers, youth leaders, PE teachers, nurses, food service, community members and families
.
2. Develop a team vision:
   1. Brainstorm the team’s wellness dream and then write a short memorable statement describing the dream.
   2. Vision example: A school/youth program that provides a healthy environment with consistent messages that guide learning and opportunities for practicing healthy lifestyle choices; and connects with families and the community to expand the messages and healthy choices everywhere kids go.
3. Share the team vision and develop awareness:
   1. Identify ways to let others know of the vision through newsletters, Web site and word of mouth
   2. Use “talking points” for nutrition and physical activity:
      1. the needs (childhood obesity, poor eating and physical activity habits of kids)
      2. the benefits (improved academic potential, better attendance)
      3. what you intend to accomplish (awareness and appeal for HKC’s Healthy6 messages, increased role-modeling)

Getting involved in healthy kids eating challenged is a great way to connect with other parents looking for healthy lunch ideas. Getting kids to eat better as a community will have beneficial and long lasting effects.