Impact Summary:
According to University of Kentucky's Food and Nutrition Department, for every person who receives education regarding some aspect of safe-food handling, their state saves an estimated $1,000. With an estimated number of foodborne diseases each year between 6 million and 81 million, education is the best prevention step available! Food Safety Day trainings were held in English and Spanish for ARAMARK Corp. food service workers at Eli Lilly and Co. Twelve food service workers were trained in Spanish and 39 food service workers in English. There was a 32% increase in knowledge using pre- and post-test evaluations for the Spanish speaking food service workers. Three-month post-program follow-up evaluation was completed by 24 out of 39 of the participants. Most significant is that 70% of the workers reported washing their hands more frequently as a result of the training. Fifty-four percent now check the temperatures of the food to make sure it's cooked to proper temperature, and 38% reported that they now check temperatures to make sure food has cooled to below 40°F. Forty-six percent reported that they now keep raw foods separate from ready-to-eat foods to prevent cross-contamination.

Issue:
Safe food-handling practices are important to effectively reduce the incidence of foodborne diseases. Currently, the Centers for Disease Control estimate that in the United States foodborne illness causes 6 million to 81 million illnesses and up to 9,000 deaths each year. Education is effective and saves money according to data from University of Kentucky's Food and Nutrition Department. For every person who receives education regarding some aspect of foodborne illness prevention their state saves an estimated $1,000. Food Safety Day is a 2-hour training program for food service workers, which emphasizes the basic principles of safe food handling - cleanliness, cook to proper temperatures, chill rapidly, and prevent cross contamination.

What Have You Done?:
Two Food Safety Day Trainings were held for ARAMARK Corporation's food service workers at Eli Lilly and Co. One training was conducted in Spanish using a Spanish- speaking presenter and with Spanish take-home materials to reach the Hispanic food service workers. The second training was in English for all food service employees.

Impact:
Food Safety training in Spanish increases knowledge gained of safe food handling practices. For both the English and Spanish Food Safety Day programs, pre- and post - tests were administered to measure knowledge gained. Sixteen food service workers participated in Food Safety Day in Spanish. Ten took the pre- and post-test. Pretest average score in Spanish was 48.5% while the post-test score was 71%. There was a 32% increase in knowledge gained as a result of training in Spanish.