Full Program

Location: Cafeteria

Skills Groups offer attendees a unique opportunity to sharpen existing skills and explore new techniques in a hands-on, collaborative learning environment. Each session will include a presentation from a facilitator designed to provide insights and practical knowledge on a key skill. Attendees are encouraged to bring their questions for a Q&A session.

Practical Evaluation Strategies – Room B2-1 
Facilitator: H. Lester Schonberger, Ph.D., Associate Extension Specialist, Virginia Tech/Virginia Cooperative Extension

How do you know your program was effective? Evaluation of your programs allows you to identify progress toward your objectives, determine opportunities for improvement, and develop ideas for new programs. Attendees will review the importance of evaluation in programming models and discuss practical applications based on the experiences of the group.

Health Literacy in Food Safety Education: The Recipe for Clear Communication – Room B2-2
Facilitators: Katie Leath, MPH, M.A., Director, Center for Health Literacy; Misty Paschall, MPH, MAEd, CHES®, Research and Evaluation Associate, Center for Health Literacy

The Skills Group Session offers attendees a unique opportunity to learn from health literacy experts and sharpen their plain language skills to enhance consumer food safety in a hands-on, collaborative learning environment. This session will begin with a presentation by a subject matter experts from the Center for Health Literacy at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, designed to provide insights and practical knowledge on plain language best practices. Attendees are encouraged to bring their questions and engage in the Q&A following the presentation. The final portion of the session will allow for small group discussions and networking, creating a space for resource sharing and skill refinement. Guiding questions for discussion will be provided for the small group portion.

Improving Confidence: Tailoring Nutrition & Food Safety Education to Promote Behavior Change – Room B2-3
Facilitator: Tara Kelly, Ph.D., RDN, Instructor, Department of Nutrition Sciences, The University of Alabama at Birmingham; Conference Co-Chair

No matter how valuable our nutrition or food safety education may be, consumers could struggle to perform learned behaviors if the resources in the learning environment do not align with those in their home environment. Attendees of this skills group session will learn to take environmental influences into consideration when designing education events, using a virtual, hands-on nutrition education workshop as an example. Following a brief presentation, learners will have the opportunity to discuss barriers of these education strategies and best practices based on the collective expertise and experience of those in attendance.

Join a panel of experts as they discuss consumer trends and perceptions of food and food safety, and share insights from the Association of Food and Drug Officials’s national poll findings, the International Food Information Council’s 2024 Health and Wellness Survey, and data from the National Pork Board’s choice-maker personas. The session will conclude with a Q&A with the panelists.

Speakers: 

• Tony Flood, Director, Food Safety Communications, International Food Information Council
• Steven Mandernach, Executive Director, Association of Food and Drug Officials
• Kevin Sheehan, Senior Director Processor Engagement, National Pork Board

Moderator:

• Brian Ronholm, Director of Food Policy, Consumer Reports

Location: Auditorium

Coffee & Refreshments: Cafeteria
Posters & Exhibits: Cafeteria

Posters: 

Interpretations of Ready-to-Eat Foods: Qualitative Comparison, Consumers versus Produce Growers
Consumers’ handling practices of ready-to-eat (RTE) foods may be influenced by how they perceive them. To explore and document their perspectives, interviews and focus groups were used to collect information from consumers and produce growers respectively on their interpretations of RTE foods.
Presenters: Elma Kontor-Manu, Suyapa Fabiola Rojas-Oropel, Yaohua Feng

Leftover Food Handling Practices Among Minority Populations
This study examines leftover food handling practices among PVAMU students. Most students bring home and store leftovers, but some have unsafe habits like leaving food out at room temperature. Understanding these practices can help improve food safety education and reduce the risk of foodborne illnesses in underserved communities.
Presenters: Mahta Moussavi

Minimizing the Impact of Home Food Waste
A Materials Management Environmental Analyst and Extension Educators will present on the environmental, social, and economic impacts of food waste and provide education on how to reduce home food waste. Information and tools will be distributed on how consumers can safely manage food waste in the most sustainable ways possible.
Presenters: Bridget Morrisroe

Communicating Food Safety to Consumers on Social Media: Instagram Lessons
Social media is a powerful and cost-effective tool for disseminating food safety information to broad audiences. This study uses Instagram as a case study to explore how different post types and formats can engage consumers with food safety content.
Presenters: Han Chen, Anastasia Elizabeth Crane

Teens Serving Food Safely Program Makes a Difference
“Teens Serving Food Safely” is a statewide classroom education effort of high school teachers and Extension. Knowledge scores have significantly increased and behavior has improved among 11,972 participants. Teens are washing their hands more often (83%), sharing their knowledge (50%), and handling food more safely for the public (41%).
Presenters: Julie Garden-Robinson