FDA Releases Video Testimonials to Enhance Retail Food Safety

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In an effort to enhance retail food safety, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released three testimonial videos. Less than 10 minutes each, the videos educate retail and foodservice employees on the possible, dire consequences of poor preparation practices and provide tips to prevent foodborne illness.

Two of the videos feature the testimonials of family members who lost their mother and wife after she ate Salmonella-contaminated food from a restaurant. A third video tells the story of a woman who contracted listeriosis while pregnant and nearly lost her newborn daughter to the disease. 

The videos support the FDA's Retail Food Safety Initiative, which seeks to strengthen the retail and foodservice industry's active managerial control of foodborne illness risk factors. The videos were produced as part of FDA's Oral Culture Learner Project, designed to enhance food safety training efforts at the retail level by helping food employees understand the important role they play in protecting public health. In addition to the video testimonials, this project has produced numerous food safety posters and storyboards in nine different languages.

The agency encourages industry operators, food safety educators and trainers, and federal, state, local, tribal and territorial regulatory officials to take full advantage of the project materials, which are available free of charge at ww.fda.gov/foodemployeetraining.