Download the Be Food Safe Brochures for all the lessons and for a chart of safe cooking temperatures.

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Be Food Safe is a joint program of the USDA and the Partnership for Food Safety Education.

This year about 5,000 people will die from foodborne illness — approximately 13 men, women and children die every day from foodborne illness.

Research findings by the Partnership for Food Safety Education reveal that despite the fact that a majority of adults feel confident they understand and follow food handling procedures, a sizeable number do not consistently follow certain safe food handling practices.

Some examples:

• Only about 15% of people consistently use a food thermometer. Using a food thermometer is important — you can't tell food is cooked safely by how it looks.
• Over half of people say they defrost meat and poultry at room temperature at least "sometimes." This practice can allow bacteria to grow on food.
• Three quarters of survey respondents say they own two or more cutting boards, but just one-third always use different cutting boards for meat and for vegetables and other ready-to-eat foods. Always keep raw meat, poultry and seafood apart from foods that won't be cooked.