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R. H. LINTON, Department of Food Science, Purdue University, 1160 Food Science Building, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1160 and W. D. Burgess, Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Purdue University, 1152 Stone Hall, West Lafayette, IN, IN 47907-1152.

Foodborne illness continues to be an important concern for consumers nationwide. CDC estimates that between 76 million cases of foodborne illness, 325 hospitalizations, 5500 deaths, and costs of 7.7-23 billion dollars may occur each year. One of the important keys to prevent foodborne illness is through effective education and training for consumers.

Purdue University and Cornell University collaborated to develop a visual and interactive learning display to teach safe food handling principles for a wide variety of audiences. CDC reports that the three main causative factors of foodborne illness are 1) poor personal hygiene, 2) cross-contamination, and 3) temperature abuse. An important goal of the curriculum and evaluation criteria was to parallel changes in behavior to the most common causes of foodborne illness.

"Food Safety Fair" contains 8 different learning modules that engages the participant in an enjoyable event that combines education and fun. A written evaluation was completed after each participant finished the activity. The Food Safety Fair was tested at the Indiana State Fair with approximately 4100 participants evaluating the program.

Several positive behavioral changes were noted by the evaluation process. After viewing the Food Safety Fair display, many personal behavior changes regarding safe food handling of foods were suggested. Over 95% of the participants indicated that they would make an effort to wash their hands more when handling foods. Approximately 80% of the participants indicated that they would measure the temperature of potentially hazardous foods. Nearly 95% of the participants reported that they would take more steps to ensure that cross-contamination does not occur while handling foods. Participants felt that they learned the most about how and when to wash their hands properly.

This curriculum may be used for many different educational settings and is intended to create positive behavioral changes regarding food handling.