Food Safe Families Campaign

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Food Safe Families Campaign

Introduction

The outbreak of E-coli in Germany is a sharp reminder to everyone on why it is very important to be watchful about food safety. Food poisoning is a critical health threat to people in this nation. CDC approximates that one out of five Americans suffer from food poisoning each year. The consequence is over 127, 000 hospitalized cases and over 2900 deaths (Silliker 606).

USDA’s Food inspection and safety service as a result of partnering with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) developed this campaign with the Ad council. This plan marks the foremost joint national multimedia crusade to assist families avert food poisoning in their homes. The Ad convention is the nonprofit generator of National Public Service Advertising (PSA) campaigns and includes the friends don’t drive while drunk and Smokey bear.

In the entire development process, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) consulted with an expert panel made up of government officials, industry groups, extension specialists, and educators. All were hand selected for their proficiency in the field of health education, food safety, and interrelated disciplines. The Ad council demanded their insights on topics critical to the campaign development; for instance, best practices, consumer behaviors, message considerations, trends, and barriers to the adoption by consumers of safe handling of food learned from existing programs (Stier 616).

Opportunities That the Government Gives

It is the government’s prerogative to make food as safe as possible before it reaches consumers’ tables. Consequently, knowledge about the risk of food poisoning can never be in vain. Therefore, word has to be taken to the consumers for them to be aware of how they can protect themselves. Part of our obligation as federal agents on food safety is to provide consumers the information they require to be safer (Tisler 125).

Target Audience English and Arabic parents or singles (20-40 years old), who prepare 4+ meals at home per week with at most a 12-year-old child at home.

ObjectivesMobilize awareness amongst families on the risks linked to food poisoning. This will be done through:

Motivating consumers to take action in order to minimize their own food poisoning risks.

Encouraging consumers to integrate safe behaviors of handling foods such as: Chill, clean, Cook and separate.

Another objective of this initiative is to change perceptions of families by raising awareness, and providing information and knowledge on the risks related to food poisoning. This will ensure that:

Consumers are motivated, especially parents, to take particular actions to minimize their risks and keep their families healthy (Tompkin 795).

The project also aims at changing attitudes and behaviors of parents to ensure that families adopt four safe food-handling behaviors in their homes in order to reduce the risk of food poisoning. These are clean, chill, and separate and Cook.

Clean: Clean hands, kitchen surfaces and utensils with water and soap in the course of food preparation

Separate: Separate raw meat from various ready to eat foods and vegetables through employing distinct cutting boards to curtail cross contamination.

Cook: Cook foods to the correct temperature through using a food thermometer .This helps in ensuring it is the right and safe temperature.

Chill: Chill prepared and raw foods quickly if they are not to be immediately consumed after cooking.

To empower consumers so that they can control and maintain good food safe families. The campaign aims at achieving this objective by:

Generating unparalleled national exposure of families to issues of food poisoning and food safety.

Initiating a national dialogue with parents on the frequency of food poisoning while encouraging families’ country wide to acknowledge the significant role they play in minimizing risks.

The PR Tools That will we Used To Reach Each Objective

The campaign will include Spanish and English language web advertising, TV, print, radio, and creativity designed, particularly for in store placement and an incorporated Social Media and PR program.

The campaign team has developed programs to engage and reach consumers in both non-conventional and conventional media. The objective of the campaign team is to reach consumers wherever they may be whether they could be in shopping mauls, watching TV, or on the social media (Weingold 820).

Messages

In every medium, one of the required four steps is highlighted with the passionate call to action to get to know more at Foodsafety.gov.

The new TV spot employs humorous description of over the top safe food handling behaviors. This will persuade parents to safeguard their families from food poisoning, while delivering visible steps to minimize their risk through Chill, Clean, Cook, and Separate.

The new radio spots would pursue a more serious approach and accentuate food poisoning consequences in a relevant manner.

Prominent web banner and print headlines aggravate consumers to question the steps they are taking towards acquiring food safety and help them get more information at Foodsafety.gov. The messages should be framed into messages and sub-messages.

The ads will strike the correct balance between getting the attention of consumers while motivating, entertaining and educating them.

These ads are likely to get people get interested in viewing its contents and that is when the campaign team will hit them with the critical reality of the problem and what they need to do to ensure, not only their safety but also that of their families.

The campaign will then give them explicit and precise steps to take and the reason for doing so.

Tools

A series of Social media/PR online tools will be adopted to engage the entire public and parents in these serious messages. Some of the social media tools that will be used include Blogs, Face book, and Twitter.

Face book

The campaign team will provide a new Face book community network that would be run by Foodsafety.gov. Face book will also offer links to third parties outside the country to increase participation in sharing of ideas. Food safety initiatives would thus be virally advertised through word of mouth as a result of social networking.

Twitter

The campaign team will also make use of the Foodsafety.gov twitter community website. The twitter site will be used mainly for networking with parents and members of the public on food safety practices. This will be done through instant messages.

Blogs

The campaign team will also make use of the Foodsafety.gov blog community website. The blogs would be very useful as discussion forums. Through these blogs, Foodsafety.gov would be able to provide useful information on food safety to parents and other members of the public.

SummaryMake a table or a chart that links the objectives, the messages and the tools together.

Objectives Messages Tools

Mobilize awareness amongst Families on the risks linked to food poisoning every medium one of the required four steps is highlighted with the clarion call to action to get to know more at Foodsafety.gov. Face book

Change perceptions of families by raising awareness, and providing information and knowledge on the risks related to food poisoning ads will strike the correct balance between getting the attention of consumers while motivating, entertaining and educating them. Twiiter

empower consumers to be in control and have food safe families. Ads are likely to get people get interested in viewing its contents and that is when the campaign team will hit them with the critical reality of the problem and what they need to do to ensure not only their safety but also that of their families Blogs

Works Cited

Silliker, J. “Microbiological Testing and HACCP Programs.” Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation, (2010): 606-610. Print

Stier, R.F. “Will HACCP be Carrot or Stick.” Dairy,Food and Environmental Sanitation, (2009): 616 -620. Print

Tisler, J.M. The Food and Drug Administration’s Perspective on HACCP, Food Technology, (2005): 125-127.

Tompkin, R.B. “The Use of HACCP in the Production of Meat and Poultry Products.” Journal of Food Protection, (2007):795-803. Print

Weingold, S.E. Use of Foodborne Disease Data for HACCP Risk Assessment.” Journal of Food Protection, (2006): 820-830.