Food Safety and
Health & Nutrition

There’s an old saying that states, “You are what you eat.” With the rates of overweight/obesity and diseases attributed to poor nutrition, many are making serious considerations to what they are feeding their bodies. Educational opportunities offered through the Orange County/IFAS Cooperative Extension Services aims to provide residents with current, researched based information that will assist in making better nutrition practices and health choices.

Not only should consumers be concerned with the nutritive value of food, but whether or not they are safe to eat. Workshops, demonstrations and consultations on proper cooking practices to reduce incidence of food-borne illness are offered through out the year.

Learning Opportunities

Healthy Choice: Simply Florida: Poor nutrition is often associated with less homemade meals and more restaurant prepared meals. Lack of time and complicated lifestyles are some reasons that influence food choice. Simply Florida: Healthy Choice is a cooking demonstration series that selects recipes from Florida’s Family and Consumer Science Extension Cookbook promoting Florida agriculture. Participants will be instructed on how simple making meals will be as well as encouraged to use safe food preparation practices.

Small Steps Big Rewards: Prevent Type 2 Diabetes Education Program: Type 2 Diabetes has recently become a household topic as many Americans, young and old, are being diagnosed with this disease. The National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) is a nationwide educational campaign to educate the public about Type 2 diabetes and how it can be reduced or controlled. Orange County/IFAS Cooperative Extension Services offers the NDEP Small Steps Big Rewards: Type 2 Education Program for pre-diabetic residents of Orange County. This program will equip participants with real-world tools to prevent Type 2 diabetes.

ServSafe Food Safety Training: Designed to instruct restaurants and food service industries with up-to-date, comprehensive food safety training. A certification exam is offered through this course to be certified to serve food to the public.

Youth Nutrition Education: Orange County/IFAS Cooperative Extension youth nutrition education workshops and programs are designed to empower youth with information to make better nutrition choices. Collaboratives with agencies as well as in-school teaching workshops offer educational opportunities through out the year. The Family Nutrition Program is a grant- funded in-school program that teaches nutrition to children in schools that have above average reduced/free lunch recipients.