How to educate consumers on food safety?

Improvement of the consumer behaviors that will reduce the risk of foodborne illnesses should be targeted as a necessary education to consumers. The last decade experiences have been shown that food labelling and use of social media are the best tools for consumer’s education. The first option is one of the main responsibilities of food producers for giving the right and necessary tips to consumers about ingredients, expiry date, nutritional facts, keeping food at safe temperature, avoiding of cross contamination and avoiding from unsafe sources. The second one is mainly one of the responsibilities of the governmental organizations such as Food and Drug Labs, Consumer Protection Organizations and Standard Organizations that they can deliver their food safety messages to target consumers/target population through Social media.

by Printing Leaflet or Brochure , Bulletin , Inviting them for visit and give Training , video ... New Social Media Website and network .

Public education and communication A customer browsing cheese in the dairy section at the Shoprite supermarket in Swaziland ┃ © FAO / Giulio Napolitano Educating consumers for informed choices The general public have a major role to play in the overall national food control system – they influence the policies that guide the system and, in a number of ways, the functioning of the system itself. Consumers Consumers directly affect the safety of foods through their food handling and preparation practices. Several national and international reports have noted that poor hygienic practices in the home are responsible for between 30-40% of food-borne illness. Many countries invest in educating and informing the public about food safety as an important means of reducing food-borne illness. FAO has worked with public health and food safety authorities and with consumer bodies to: assist in the design of public information/education programmes/campaigns, including the monitoring of their effectiveness assist in the development of appropriate messages for use in such programmes to facilitate behaviour change (hand-washing, use of safe raw products and water, temperature-time management during handling, proper storage practices, cross contamination issues, proper cooking temperatures, etc.) improve food hygiene practices in food service sector (including street food) Public involvement The influence of an informed and educated public goes beyond his/her home: public concerns about food safety/ food quality have in many cases driven public policy and industry policy and behaviour. Consumer groups and other civil society groups often play a big role in ensuring that the consumers have a voice. Recognizing the importance of effective involvement of the general public, FAO: provides guidance to governments on strengthening mechanisms for public input into food control decision-making collaborates with international consumer and other civil society organizations on various food safety/ quality issues Labelling There is growing consumer and industry interest in food labelling: the industry is concerned about informing potential consumers of the “qualities” of their products and many consumers actively seek information to facilitate product choices that meet their health needs and are consistent with their values. Government authorities seek to ensure that the information provided on food packages is useful, credible and presented clearly so that it does not mislead the consumer. Mandatory labeling gives consumers warnings, instructions and other types of information which are deemed by regulatory authorities to be important for the consumer's welfare. Authorities also provide guidance on voluntary labelling. FAO: provides guidance to authorities on the development of national labelling regulations that are consistent with Codex Guidelines and that meet national needs support programmes to promote correct interpretation of labels information by consumers.

food safety officer have  duty to convey her experience that poper hygience principle should be fallow by consumer it should also be mention at pack of food

Giving them leaflets that contains all healty food engridients,providing healthy tips using videos and bulletin..