The Partnership for Food Safety Education has introduced a Safe Recipe Style Guide intended to dramatically improve consumers’ safe food handling behaviors at home. The Style Guide provides specific, concise recipe text to address four major kitchen practices: cooking to safe temperatures, hand washing, preventing cross contamination, and safe handling of fresh produce. The Style Guide can be found online at www.saferecipeguide.org

The Style Guide was developed based on research that shows that when consumers follow recipes that incorporate basic food safety instructions, they significantly increase food safety behaviors. This style guide provides easy edits to any recipe to improve food safety practices. Sample recipes available on the website show how you can write recipes that encourage more food-safe behavior.

For example, a sample recipe for Moroccan Chicken with Eggplant-Zucchini Ragout includes language that reminds consumers to:

• Wash hands with soap and water before beginning and after handling raw poultry.
• Avoid rinsing poultry.
• Clean zucchini, eggplant, and onion with water before cutting.
• Cook chicken to a safe internal temperature, 165 degrees F.

Consider using this tool as you prepare recipes to share with others, and stay food safe, Barb