The Partnership for Food Safety Education—a coalition of government, consumer and industry groups—launched its Fight BAC!™ consumer education campaign on October 24, 1997. The public service campaign promotes safe food handling practices and encourages behavior change among consumers.
In the campaign's public service announcement, BAC, an animated cartoon and mascot, tries to spread bacteria throughout the kitchen, but is thwarted by safe food handling messages.
"Although the United States has one of the safest food supplies in the world, preventing foodborne illness remains a public health challenge," said U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary Donna E. Shalala. "The BAC character puts a face on foodborne bacteria, which will help Americans remember that they have the power to control bacteria in their kitchen and at home," she added.
Consumer messages include:
- Clean: wash hands and surfaces often;
- Separate: don't cross-contaminate;
- Cook: cook to proper temperatures; and,
- Chill: refrigerate promptly.
Each of the consumer messages have action steps to Fight BAC!™ in the home.
"Just as the public links 'Smokey the Bear' with preventing forest fires, the goal of the Fight BAC!™ campaign is to educate consumers on the problem of foodborne illness and motivate them to take basic sanitation and food handling steps that will greatly reduce their risk of foodborne illness," said U.S. Department of Agriculture secretary Dan Glickman. "We hope this new food safety symbol will become as familiar and meaningful to Americans as the Food Guide Pyramid," he added.
Fight BAC!™ messages will be delivered through media, Internet, schools, supermarkets and restaurants, and a national network of public health, nutrition, food science, food service, education and community groups.
The Partnership is an outgrowth of the 1996 independent scientific panel report, Putting the Food Handling Issue on the Table: The Pressing Need for Food Safety Education. This report was complementary to the federal government's commitment to improving food safety through the National Food Safety Initiative begun in January 1997 (see Winter 1997 Food Insight).
For more information and Fight BAC!™ materials, contact the Partnership for Food Safety Education at www.fightbac.org.
