Tag Archives: USDA

Food Safety During the Summer

No nutrition blog would be complete without food safety guidelines for summer cooking.

Following some of the basic steps below will help you have a safe summer (or any time of year) gathering without getting folks sick.

  • Clean hands, food contact surfaces, fruits and vegetables.
  • To prevent the spread of bacteria, do not wash or rinse raw meat or poultry.
  • Separate raw, cooked and ready to eat foods when shopping, preparing or storing foods.  No one wants cooked food on the same dish you had raw food. This is especially important for the “grill masters” out there.
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School Lunches: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

When I started this blog it was not intended discuss my experience in working with school lunches several years ago. However, the recent media blowout over a school girl’s lunch has me on edge.

It all comes down to misunderstanding and the school’s inability to handle the situation appropriately:

The girl’s teacher should have handed the child a carton of milk to round out the turkey-and-cheese sandwich and banana she brought from home. Instead, the teacher erred by telling the tyke to get a cafeteria lunch, Barnes (Hook County Superintendant) said.

Posted in Child Nutrition, Health, Nutrition, School Lunches | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

USDA Unveils New Plant Hardiness Zone Map

For folks who like gardening or like planting edibles as a source of nutrition, you might be interested in knowing that USDA unveiled their new Plant Hardiness Zone Map. The map for the first time can help gardeners identify their current planting zone by zip code. This makes choosing edibles and other plants easier, especially if you know what zone you live.

It’s currently available online at www.planthardiness.ars.usda.gov.

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