Safe Recipe Style Guide: Food safety group cooks up online resource

Orlando, FL — The Partnership for Food Safety Education has launched an online tool intended to improve home cooks’ food safety behavior.

The Safe Recipe Style Guide, unveiled March 7, is designed for anyone who writes and publicizes recipes (e.g., professional recipe writers, food journalist, bloggers). The guide provides specific, concise text to include in recipes that addresses the four top food safety concerns: temperature, handwashing, cross-contamination and produce handling.

“Multiple studies show that when consumers follow recipes that incorporate basic food safety instructions, they significantly increase food safety behaviors,” the resource states. “This style guide provides easy edits to any recipe to improve food safety practices.”

The idea for the tool was inspired by a 2016 study published in the Journal of Food Protection. In the study, participants were asked to prepare a baked chicken breast and a ground turkey patty. The group that received recipes with safety instructions – such as handwashing during food preparation and using a food thermometer to test the temperature of the meat – demonstrated significantly improved food safety behaviors.

Instructions included in the Safe Recipe Style Guide were developed with assistance from food safety experts and journalists, the release states.