The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), in partnership with local health departments and the over 60,000 licensed food businesses in our state, works hard every day to assure the safety of the food products for sale in Michigan.
Consumers also play a huge role in keeping their food safe and wholesome. Simple steps can help reduce the risk of foodborne illness. Purchase foods from an approved source. Practice good hygiene when handling foods by washing hands and food preparation surfaces often. Wash fresh fruits and vegetables carefully, and cook meats, poultry, eggs, leftovers and other foods to the proper temperature. Proper food storage is also important. At room temperature, bacteria in food can double every 20 minutes. The more bacteria there are, the greater the chance you could become sick. Refrigerate foods quickly because cold temperatures keep most harmful bacteria from multiplying.
It’s also important to keep up with food recalls in case food inspectors or food businesses discover problems in food products being sold. A food recall is a firm’s voluntary removal of distributed food products from commerce when there is a reason to believe that such products are adulterated or misbranded. MDARD food and dairy inspectors are notified of recalls affecting Michigan and help ensure that potentially harmful food products are kept off store shelves by conducting both routine and targeted recall audit checks.
To learn more about keeping your family’s food safe, visit www.michigan.gov/foodsafety. To sign up to receive food recall alerts as a phone text message or an email, visit www.michigan.gov/foodrecalls.