2023 Consumer Food Safety Education Conference

The 2023 Consumer Food Safety Education Conference (CFSEC) aims to reduce the rate of foodborne illness in the United States by empowering health and food safety professionals to engage consumers effectively on the topic of safe food handling practices that reduce the risk of illness.The 2023 CFSEC will equip health and food safety educators from all sectors to be prepared for the future of food safety education and orient educators to national goals such HealthyPeople 2030.The major goals of theconference are to:Focus on behavior change.Provide opportunities to network and engage in collaborative dialogue with health and food safety professionals from all sectors.Feature strategies to influence food safety knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of consumers.Provide a solution-based program designed to equip participants with the tools and resources needed to address their biggest food safety challenges of today and tomorrow.The ultimate goal is to reduce foodborne illness risk for all households through empowered and effective health and food safety professionals.To achieve these goals, this grant will make possible:AV for the Conference, allowing for the ease of sharing of content during session;Full student scholarships for about eight undergraduate and graduate students to attend; andAwareness raising of the conference and its benefits to the field through marketing strategies.It's important that the Conference content is easy to access and that people are aware of the Conference. This ultimately means more people will attend and by extension, more professionals are oriented to effective strategies for reducing foodborne illnesses. Additionally, by including aspiring food safety professionals through scholarships in the Conference experience, they will become equipped with the tools they need once they enter the food safety workforce. It is an investment in the future of food safety.