September is National Food Safety Education Month, and it's clear that consumers need a lot of educating on this topic, especially when it comes to grilling burgers -- whether made from ground beef, pork, chicken or turkey.
 

A new poll commissioned by the American Meat Institute (AMI) found that 88% of U.S. adults cook burgers, but only 19% use a meat thermometer to determine if the burgers are cooked to the correct temperature and are safe to eat, with 57% relying on cooking time and 73% relying on sight.
 

Of particular concern is that AMI's survey found that only 13% of adults ages 18-34 -- many of whom cook burgers for children -- use a thermometer to determine doneness, and 78% in this age group rely on sight, which is not an accurate indicator to determine if a burger is cooked correctly.
 

Furthermore, AMI said only 20% of those surveyed knew that beef and pork burgers should be cooked to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F, and 41% thought a lower temperature would be safe; only 13% knew that chicken and turkey burgers should be cooked to 165 degrees F, and 47% thought a lower temperature would be safe.

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Hunger affects millions
 
One in six Americans -- 16% of the American population, or 49 million people -- lived in food-insecure households last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
 

The food insecurity situation covered 14.5% of U.S. households and included 16 million children and 5 million seniors, USDA said.
 

Although two food insecurity categories improved, the numbers were basically unchanged from 2008 and 2009, USDA said.
 

"Behind these numbers are the faces of 49 million men, women and children who struggle to find enough to eat," said Vicki Escarra, chief executive officer of Feeding America, which coordinates food banks across the U.S.
 

The numbers were determined by USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS) based on the agency's survey of U.S. households and were published in the department's "Household Food Security in the United States, 2010" report that was released last week.

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FDA, food scientists partner on traceback

The difficulty of identifying foods that may be contaminated or involved in an outbreak of foodborne illness prompted Congress to include language in the new Food Safety Modernization Act to streamline the tracing system for such foods so they could be quickly removed from the marketplace.
 

On Sept. 7, the Food & Drug Administration and the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) announced that they will partner on two pilot programs that are "designed to test and study various product tracing systems," according to a statement from IFT.
 

IFT is a nonprofit, scientific society of food science professionals with a long history of advancing food science.
 

An announcement from the organization noted that, "under an existing contract with FDA, IFT will conduct both the processed food and the produce pilots required by the Food Safety Modernization Act involving multiple stakeholders throughout the food system."

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In our opinion...  

Opportunities for protein bright

By Andy Vance  

I spent this week meeting with professionals in the dairy and beef artificial insemination business at Select Sires' national sales conference.
 
Although I was engaged to discuss the applications and implications of social media in connecting sales professionals with customers, I may have learned more from the other speakers at the conference than I taught the team members.
 

One of the keynote speakers on the first day of the conference really piqued my interest.
 

Dr. Tom Field is executive director of producer education for the National Cattlemen's Beef Assn. Invited to give a perspective on the beef industry to set the tone for the week, Field was easily one of the most well-received presenters of the event.
 

A few highlights of his talk are worth noting.

 First, according to the "Cattlemen's Stewardship Review," 97% of beef producers are family operators, and 54% of these farms and ranches have been held by the same family for three generations or more. That is an amazing statistic and one that stands in pretty stark contrast to what the anti-agriculture crowd would lead us to believe as part of the "evil giant factory mega farm" meme.

 Further, U.S. cattle producers are extremely productive, owning only 7% of the global cattle herd while producing 20% of the global beef supply. That, to me, is pretty amazing.

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USFRA to host food dialogues

The U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) has announced it will host The Food Dialogues, a town hall-style discussion to address Americans' questions about how their food is grown and raised and the long-term impact of the food they are eating - on their own health and the health of the planet.

These topics, as well as findings from recent surveys of farmers, ranchers and consumers conducted by USFRA, will all be discussed during this interactive event taking place at four locations across the U.S. and online on September 22.
 

"Americans want to know where their food comes from, how it was raised and if it is good for their health long-term," said Bob Stallman, chairman of USFRA and president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. "We realize farmers and ranchers haven't always done the best job answering Americans' questions about how food is grown and raised, and hope The Food Dialogues event will be the start of an ongoing dialogue that addresses these questions and more. We hope everyone who cares about the future of food and how we provide healthy choices for people everywhere will join the discussion, including farmers of all sizes - small and large, conventional and organic, consumers and food decision-makers."
 

The Food Dialogues will include four panel discussions, featuring leaders in food, food service, media and policy, farmers of all types and business leaders, who will share different viewpoints about the current and future states of food, and how food is grown and raised. These discussions will take place at four U.S. locations including Washington, D.C., New York, the Midwest and California, as well as online via Facebook and USFRA's new website, www.fooddialogues.com.

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