The foodservice industry is important to New Hampshire's economy. A recent report detailing New Hampshire's employment projections to 2014 show combined food preparation and serving jobs will be among the top 10 occupations, adding the most jobs and among the 10 experiencing the most annual openings.

Whether you're dining in an up-scale restaurant or a snack shack at the beach, you expect the food to be safe. UNH Cooperative Extension Family and Consumer Resources Educators work closely with the retail food industry to provide food safety education for both food managers and food workers. In the past 15 years, educators reached food workers in all 10 counties in the state with the Safety Awareness in the Food Environment (SAFE) program. The SAFE program focuses on the importance of personal hygiene (especially handwashing), preventing cross contamination, using recommended temperatures for keeping food safe from receiving to serving, and the "how to's" of cleaning and sanitizing.

During the first six months of the 2007 fiscal year, educators taught 34 SAFE programs reaching over 568 restaurant workers, non-profit and health care food workers, food pantry volunteers and food entrepreneurs. Ninety-five percent of the participants scored 75 percent or greater on a post-workshop knowledge test.

One hundred and forty-three food workers participated in a UNH Cooperative Extension sponsored ServSafe program, also taught by Family and Consumer Resources Educators. ServSafe is a national food safety certification program sponsored the National Restaurant Association's Educational Foundation. Seventy-five percent of these participants passed the national examination to become ServSafe certified.

Food workers who are knowledgeable about food safety and sanitation are important to the foodservice industry. UNH Cooperative Extension Family and Consumer Resources educators continue to lead educational programming in New Hampshire to reach this goal.