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Section E: Regulation and handling of animal products:
a special challenge
Projected
outcome
Students will understand how concerns about food
safety affect sustainable animal production and
marketing.
Background
/ Lessons
Introduction
Animal products pose special food safety risks.
As a result their handling and sale is subject
to special regulation. These special regulations
can affect the ability of sustainable farmers
to direct market their animal products.
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Food
Safety of Animal Products
Activity 1:
Where do you put the groceries?
Animal products carry special risks of foodborne
illness. Because of these risks, we handle them
in special ways to prevent pathogens from growing
and to kill any pathogens before we consume them.
These special handling techniques include chilling,
salting, and cooking.
(There is a lot of consumer information on foodborne
illnesses. Some sources include http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Foodborne_Illness_&_Disease_Fact_Sheets/index.asp,
http://www.foodsafety.gov/~fsg/f01chart.html,
http://foodsafety.unl.edu/, http://foodsafety.unl.edu/index.shtml,
http://lancaster.unl.edu/food/foodsafety.htm
)
For more general information on foodborne illness
and attempts to combat it see
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/foodborneinfections_g.htm
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Production_&_Inspection_Fact_Sheets/index.asp,
Optional student activity: Divide students into
small groups. Have each group read CDC information
about a common food pathogen, such as Campylobacter,
E coli O 157:H7, Listeria, and Salmonella, at
http://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/alldisease.htm.
Have each group present key information about
what the illness is, how it is transmitted, and
how it can be prevented to the class.
For another angle, students could read sample
case studies intended to educate doctors and nurses
about diagnosing and reporting foodborne illness
at http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/36/2004_food_salmonella.pdf
or http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/36/2004_food_o157.pdf.
These cases will give them a sense of how difficult
it can be to diagnose and track food borne illness.
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Regulation
of Animal Products
How do concerns about food safety affect sustainable
animal marketing?
Many sustainable farmers direct-market their
products. Direct marketing allows them to get
their products to consumers who appreciate their
special attributes. Direct marketing benefits
the consumers who can get food with the special
attributes they want, and it benefits farmers
by raising the price they receive for their goods.
Some of the attributes prized by consumers include
animals raised without antibiotics or hormones,
animals raised on pasture, and animals from local
family farms.
However, because of concerns about food safety,
the sale of animal products is far more heavily
regulated than the sale of fruits and vegetables.
Farmers need to make sure they follow the law.
The regulations on selling animal products can
be different in each state, and sometimes local
governments impose additional requirements. Farmers
can contact the state, county, and local agencies
responsible for enforcing these regulations, the
county extension service, or a state commodity
group to get information about the regulations
that apply to them.
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Activity 2:
What Are the Rules?
Further reading:
Creamery soured by recall (MS Word Document)
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