Scientists from the University of Liverpool will be serving up a host of family-friendly activities on food safety at Liverpool’s World Museum on Saturday, 15 June as part of Food Safety Week 2013.
The ‘Healthy Tums, Happy Bums’ event has been organised by students and researchers from the Institute of Infection and Global Health and aims to raise awareness of food safety issues and the work being carried out o protect people from infections like Salmonella, Campylobacter and E.coli.
Top 10 most-wanted microbes
Activities will include a rundown of the top 10 most-wanted microbes that can cause food poisoning, an experiment to highlight the importance of proper hand hygiene, a food-preparation and storage game, the chance to contribute to the creation of a giant tapeworm model, and the story of the red British Lion stamp found on eggs. There will also be poster displays of some of the Institute’s current research projects on food-borne infections in animals and humans.
One of the activities includes a string of fact cards – each individual card contains a fact about something relating to food safety.
Dr Nicola Williams, a Lecturer in Zoonotic Disease who has helped organise the event, said: “Whilst the unpleasant symptoms of food poisoning are well known, most people don’t know much about the microbes that are to blame. We want to give visitors the chance to find out more about different types of infection and the research we’re doing to tackle them, as well as promoting some simple food safety rules everyone can follow to reduce their chances of getting ill.”
As part of Food Safety Week (10-16 June), visitors at the event will also be encouraged to take the Food Standard Agency’s ‘Kitchen Check’, a simple tool that helps people find out if their kitchen habits are putting them, or their family and friends, at risk of food poisoning.
The event is free, and takes places at World Museum, Liverpool, on Saturday 15 June from 11am – 4pm.
Find out more about the Institute’s work on food safety and food security by visiting: http://www.liv.ac.uk/infection-and-global-health/research/food-safety-and-security/
Find out more about Food Safety Week here: http://www.food.gov.uk/news-updates/campaigns/kitchen-check/#.UbfU6pytpig