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<OL> <LI> Multidisciplinary team members will develop a research based food safety education training module. <LI> Early childhood teachers will increase their participation and the number of hours in food safety education training. <LI> Early childhood educators will demonstrate increased knowledge and understanding of effective strategies to teach children about food safety behaviors. <LI> Early childhood teachers will more frequently apply and teach food safety principles in the classroom. <LI> Children will demonstrate improved food safety practices in the classroom. <LI>There will be a reduction of the risk of food-borne illnesses in Alabama.
In 2002, there were 1,357 illnesses that may have been caused by food-borne elements in Alabama. It is important that food safety behaviors be learned at an early age. There were 295,992 children under 5 years old in Alabama in 2000. Approximately 46,000 children who lived in poverty received care in 2,400 child-care, Head Start, etc. programs. Proper food safety practice is especially important for childcare provided services .The outcomes are the skills that are most highly predictive of food safety practice in the early years and that are most amenable to influence by factors within the realm of classroom curricula and practice. a way to internalize these good habits and to equip children with the knowledge to practice proper food safety practices in their daily life. There has been little training for early childhood teachers in curriculum and food safety practices offered to date. This project will implement several strategies to reach early childhood educators. Such as the "Share-the-Training" component dramatically increases the number of early childhood educators and parents trained through the project. With the "Food Safety Professional Development for Early Childhood Educators," we propose over a two-year period to deliver the latest research-based training on food safety education to approximately 500 early childhood educators and 1,000 parents who provide training the will directly affect the education of 7,500 children in Alabama.
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The project will focus on research, education and extension activities through building a statewide infrastructure to train early childhood educators in food safety education procedures and teaching methodologies. a joint effort by several agencies will combine a variety of unique strengths for planning a cooperative food safety education training program for teachers. The project will use a multidisciplinary team approach to develop a food safety education curriculum and a training module. The project will also provide intensive training for a team of early childhood personnel from sites across Alabama. The training will be followed by technical assistance to help the teams disseminate information to other personnel in their home programs.