USDA and HHS Unveil New Food Safety Consumer Website; FoodSafety.gov Features Latest Food Safety, Recall Information Across Federal Government

"There are certain things only a government can do. And one of those things is ensuring that the foods we eat are safe and do not cause us harm." -- President Barack Obama

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack [pictured] and Health and Human Services [HHS] Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, co-chairs of the Obama Administration's Food Safety Working Group, unveiled a new consumer website today at http://www.foodsafety.gov/. The site is designed to help consumers and families get all the latest information on food safety and food recalls in one convenient place.

The new site features information from all the agencies across the federal government that deal with critical food and food safety information -- including preventive tips about how to handle food safely; alerts on life-saving food recalls; and the latest news from the key agencies.

FoodSafety.gov provides consumers with one easy place to sign up to receive e-mail and RSS alerts on recalled or potentially unsafe food, as well as get information from the top scientific experts across the government on food safety. Later phases of the site to be launched will include recall feeds for texting and mobile phones.

The site will also feature a FoodSafety.gov widget that the public and the media are encouraged to download and promote on their websites and social networking sites. The widget will instantly update viewers with the latest food safety recalls, and will be a valuable public health and safety tool.

Leaders from HHS and USDA praised the new site, and said it would be a valuable tool in their efforts to keep our food supply safe and consumers healthy:

"Protecting the health and well-being of the American people is a fundamental responsibility of the federal government," said Secretary Vilsack. "Our new and innovative approach to connecting consumers to food safety information in an easy and timely manner is a critical improvement in this effort."

"The highest mission of any government is keeping its citizens safe," Secretary Sebelius noted. "In this Administration, we see public health as an essential part of that mission. This new website is an essential way we can help keep people safe from unhealthy food and food handling practices, and up-to-date on critical food recalls. Consumers no longer will have to search around in different places trying to figure out which agency manages which food product. All the information that they will need will be in one easy place at http://www.foodsafety.gov/."

"This site focuses on prevention by highlighting the steps both businesses and consumers can take to avoid illness," said Food and Drug Administration [FDA] Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg. "It also will be a clearinghouse for information on the latest FDA rules and guidance."

"Health departments and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] rely on information from many places, including consumers, when it comes to tracking food-borne illnesses across the country and the world," said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden. "With this new website, consumers will quickly know who to contact if they believe they became ill from eating a certain food. Those reports of illness can help us identify potential outbreaks sooner and strengthen our efforts to protect Americans from unsafe food and food-borne illness."

"Protecting the American people from food-borne illness is a critical mission of the U.S. Department of Agriculture," added Jerry Mande, Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety at USDA. "Our work is designed to prevent outbreaks of food-borne illness from occurring, and to react quickly and decisively to contamination in the food supply. The new FoodSafety.gov site will provide families with a one-stop online shop for all the latest information they need to reduce the danger of food-borne illnesses."

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Agriculture
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