The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s National Retail Food Team has released new posters that focus on proper holding practices for cold prepared food and adequate cooking temperatures for turkey and ground beef. These posters were created as part of the FDA’s efforts to enhance food safety training at the retail level by helping employees better understand their role in preventing foodborne illnesses, particularly among vulnerable populations.

The following information is being conveyed:

• The importance of Date Marking posters demonstrate the importance of the proper retention period for prepared foods as indicated in the Food Code, §3-501.17 Ready-to-Eat, Time/Temperature Control for Safety Food, Date Marking. Date marking in retail food settings is the mechanism by which the Food Code requires active managerial control of the temperature and time combinations for cold holding as a way to reduce or eliminate the growth and spread of foodborne illness causing bacteria.
• Adequate Cooking Temperature posters explain the importance of bringing poultry (whole and ground) and ground beef to the correct temperature as a way to reduce or eliminate foodborne illness-causing bacteria that may be on meat or poultry as indicated in  the Food Code, §3-401.11 Raw Animal Foods.

The English language version of the posters are currently available on the Educational Materials for Retail Food Employees website and can be downloaded and printed.

Additional versions of these posters will be available in weeks to come. These include two-sided posters with English on one side and Spanish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean or Hindi on the other.

These posters support the FDA’s Retail Food Safety Initiative, which seeks to strengthen the retail and foodservice industry’s control and reduction of foodborne illness risk factors. The agency encourages industry operators, food safety educators/trainers, and federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial regulatory officials to take full advantage of these materials, which are available free of charge at the FDA Educational Materials for Retail Food Employees website.