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BREAKING NEWS: CFI Thanks White House for Saying Yes to Labels for Mechanically Tenderized Meat,Recognizes 2,000 consumers for signing labeling petition since Friday ... Read More here >

NEW BLOG POST: PREGNANT MOMS LISTEN UP: LISTERIOSIS IS RARE BUT DEADLY ... Read More here >

Founded in 2006, the Center for Foodborne Illness Research & Prevention seeks to build bridges between research, policy and practice. In everything we do, our objective remains the same – creating a safe, secure, and sustainable food supply.

We are fighting to have mechanically tenderized beef labeled, so that consumers will know that these products have different cooking and safe handling requirements. For more information See Barb’s blog and the recent FoodSafetyNews article: Pat Buck urges Obama Administration to label mechanically tenderized meat. Join us to tell the White House that labeling mechanically tenderized meat is an important public health issue. SIGN OUR PETITION HERE.

CFI is working with industry and government leaders to reduce pathogens in poultry, without harming safety inspectors and line workers. We’re proud of our accomplishments.

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Read more about CFI, what we do and how you can get involved in helping to promote food safety. Explore CFI’s online library for useful information and links about food safety and foodborne illness.

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CDC has identified preventing foodborne illness as one of the winnable battles. But we can only win if people understand that food safety matters. You can help CFI spread the word. Sign up for CFI’s e-alerts, Like CFI on Facebook, Follow Barb on Twitter, and ask 10 of your friends to do the same!

Exciting CFI News!

CFI's Barbara Kowalcyk Awarded LennonOno Grant For Peace

Will Travel To Iceland in October To Accept Award from Yoko Ono

GROVE CITY, PA, August 26, 2010 – Yoko Ono announced that she will honor CFI’s Barbara Kowalcyk in October with the prestigious LennonOno Grant For Peace. Ono established the biannual award in 2002 to honor John Lennon’s dedication to peace and his commitment to human rights.

“I am deeply honored that my work in food safety is being recognized by Yoko Ono,” said Kowalcyk, CFI’s co-founder and Director of Food Safety. “More importantly, this award focuses international attention on the fundamental importance of food safety to a healthy civil society in the United States and globally. Recent events, including this summer’s massive egg recall, and the global nature of our food supply highlight the need for a new approach that integrates human, animal and environmental health to provide a more holistic and sustainable approach to food and food safety.”

Read More...

Barbara and Pat touched your heart in Food, Inc. when they told Kevin’s story.

Learn more about Kevin and CFI’s efforts to pass Kevin’s Law.

Barb on Huff Post Video Segment

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IN THE NEWS - BARB ON WSOC TV

Barb Kowalcyk Interviewed by WSOC TV in Charlotte on NC health inspections
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CFI members speak at FDA meeting on FSMA implementation

Pat Buck and two CFI board members spoke at recent FDA meetings on FSMA implementation.

"... Contaminated food is not good for business, but it is especially not good for people in the vulnerable populations. They are the ones most likely to become sickened. In fact, they can die, and even if they live, they can have life-long health problems...It’s time for FDA to require preventive controls in its oversight of food..."

Read each of their full comments here: Pat Buck, Ken Costello, Polly Costello, Elizabeth Armstrong


Barbara Kowalcyk: When Is A Steak Not A Steak?

Have you ever noticed that the USDA recommends that steaks and roasts be cooked to 145° while ground beef should be cooked to 160°? Have you ever wondered why there is a difference? After all, beef is beef -- right?

Actually there is a very good reason for the difference. While meat starts out sterile, it can become contaminated with bacteria -- like E. coli O157:H7 -- when it isn't handled properly during slaughtering or processing, and once contaminated, the only thing that will kill the bacteria is heat. With intact cuts of meat -- like steaks and roasts -- that contamination will be on the surface, not on the inside. Pathogens on the surface are much easier to kill, after all, the outside of the meat heats up much faster than the inside does, so the recommended temperature can be lower. However, with non-intact meat -- like ground beef -- surface bacteria can be moved moved or "translocated" to the inside of the meat where it is harder to kill, so a higher temperature is required. Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Intact meat gets cooked to a lower temperature of 145° and non-intact meat gets cooked to 160°.

Unfortunately, steaks and roasts are often not as they seem.

... Read the full story on Huffington Post here: When Is A Steak Not A Steak?

Barbara Kowalcyk featured in UC Magazine Story: Tragedy Spurs Advocacy

Two-year-old Kevin Kowalcyk's death from foodborne illness in 2001 should have been a wake-up call for food producers and federal policymakers. But they're still groggy. More than a decade later, his mom continues efforts to make food safer for us all.by Matt Dewald, A&S '95

When I first met alumna Barb Kowalcyk 10 years ago, I had called to talk about her 21/2-year-old son, Kevin. As a fellow Midwesterner and the father of a toddler myself, I felt like we had a few things in common.

But I also knew we had one very big difference. While we talked, my son Max was napping at a nearby preschool. Kevin had died the year before.

In that phone interview, we talked about the advocacy Kowalcyk had thrown herself into in response to Kevin's death. He had been killed by complications from a foodborne pathogen, E. coli, that he consumed in a contaminated hamburger. In less than two weeks, Kevin had gone from a healthy, giggling boy to one of the approximately 3,000 Americans who die each year from foodborne illnesses.

... Read the full story on UC Magazine here: Tragedy spurs advocacy