Food Safety Education Month Tips: Always Cook to Proper Temperature
Studies have shown that Americans know food safety is important, but they have also shown we need to be better informed about what food safety looks like in practice. There are four keys to food safety: Clean, Separate, Cook, Chill. I’ve already discussed the importance of cleaning and separating. This week, we will learn more about the third key: Cook. [...]
New Online Portal Helps Streamline Speech and Hearing Testing Documentation Process
Last September our Licensing team rolled out the online renewal portal for speech and hearing professionals that allows almost 5,000 hearing aid dispensers, audiologists, and speech-language pathologists statewide complete the renewal application electronically, upload documents, and submit an online payment. In addition to quicker submission by licensees, the improvement has helped the licensing staff drastically reduce processing time-frames to an [...]
Join the Global Conversation about Antibiotic Resistance This Week
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are the germs that don’t respond to the drugs developed to kill them. Such germs threaten to return us to the time when people used to die from simple infections. Today, antibiotic-resistant bacteria cause at least two million illnesses and 23,000 deaths every year in the United States. High levels of antibiotic resistance have been found in all regions [...]
National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month
September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month and I am pleased to announce that we’ve seen the number of overweight or obese children decrease among our preschool children in the Arizona WIC Program from one in three to one in four. Back in 2008, 29.4 percent of preschoolers in the Arizona WIC Program were either overweight or obese. This past [...]
National Fruits & Veggies-More Matters Month
September is a great time to visit a farmers’ market as we celebrate Fruits & Veggies-More Matters Month. Plan to visit a farmers’ market and enjoy some fresh and delicious Arizona Grown vegetables and fruit. This year, nearly 11,000 women and children and 6700 seniors can eat more vegetables and fruits because of our Arizona Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program. Each participant [...]
Food Safety Education Month: SEPARATE
There are four keys to food safety: Clean, Separate, Cook, Chill. Last week, we talked all about the ways cleaning can prevent foodborne illness. This week, we’ll talk more about the second key: SEPARATE. A major source of foodborne illness is cross-contamination. This can occur when pathogens (illness-causing bacteria, viruses, or parasites) are transferred from one food to another either [...]