Expanding Outreach Through Partnerships
The Massachusetts Partnership for Food Safety Education, under the leadership of UMass Extension Nutrition Education Program (NEP), includes representatives from state and federal agencies working with consumers, regulators, and food workers in food production, processing, food service, and retail establishments. Through this collaboration, food safety messages have been developed and disseminated to over 1,700 consumers, regulators, and food workers. Low literacy and multi-language food safety fact sheets have been developed.

Eat More Calabaza
The Farmers' Market Project is a collaborative project of UMass and Tufts University which promotes the consumption of fresh produce and the importance of buying locally. With the support of Extension's Agroecology Program, Massachusetts growers, for the first time, made available in the farmers' markets four vegetables popular with Latino consumers -- calabaza (squash), rosita (eggplant), ají dulce(sweet pepper), and batata (sweet potato). Nutrition educators demonstrated the preparation of these vegetables, emphasizing food handling and techniques for reducing fat. The program drew a greater number of shoppers to the farmers' markets, promoted locally grown produce, and increased the consumption of fresh vegetables.

Safer Food Handling
Food Handling is a Risky Business, a program for those who prepare food for high-risk populations, reached over 1,650 human service professionals, food workers, volunteers, and regulators. Many of the trainings were offered in collaboration with state and local educational agencies, elder and child care providers, and emergency food networks. Program evaluations showed that knowledge of time and temperature control improved substantially. Over 183,000 children, elderly, and immune-compromised individuals are served by the 1,400 food workers who completed this program.

What Did We Accomplish?
Selected 1998 Program Impacts

Of the 2,510 families participating in the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP), 62% completed the10-lesson program. Almost all EFNEP graduates reported making positive changes in their diets (92%), with 44% saying they used a shopping list more often, and half reporting success in stretching food resources to the end of the month.

The EFNEP youth program reached 3,257 young people. Over half the participants increased their ability to select low-cost, nutritious food, and 21% improved practices in food preparation and safety.

Nutrition educators and 4-H Youth and Family Development staff provided FNP youth programs reaching over 23,000 young people. Programs took place in a variety of settings including classrooms, school cafeterias, after-school programs, and summer day camps. In a statewide assessment of impact, participants reported consuming more fruits (40%), vegetables (36%), and grains (48%). Over 15% said they had changed from whole to low-fat skim milk.

27 EFNEP participants became volunteers for the program, assisting with instruction, record keeping, and office functions.

Nutrition education programs for refugees, with lessons tailored to meet their specific needs, served Russian immigrants in Springfield.

67% of EFNEP participants were from Hispanic, African American, Asian, or Native American limited-resource families.

Servsafe courses were offered in collaboration with the Massachusetts School Food Service Association, Head Start, the Executive Office of Elder Affairs, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Division of Food and Drugs, and local boards of health at nine locations across the state, reaching over 200 food workers and regulators serving over 40,000 children and elderly.

Over 3,100 agency staff and program participants attended more than 244 workshops and video conferences on nutrition and dietary guidelines for children, adults, and the elderly.

About the Program

NEP provides low-income individuals, families, and staff of community agencies with the knowledge and skills that enable them to make informed choices about healthful diets, to reduce risks of food-borne illness and chronic disease, and to efficiently manage food resources.

In partnership with University colleagues and community collaborators, the NEP Extension staff offers research-based programs in four core areas.

Expanded Food and Nutrition Program (EFNEP)--EFNEP is a nutrition education program for low-income families with young children. Paraprofessional nutrition educators recruited from target populations teach basic nutrition, meal planning, and food resource and money management. EFNEP nutrition educators reach the target families in a variety of settings including employment training programs, shelters for those recovering from substance abuse, and teen parenting programs. EFNEP also reaches individuals through a home-study course, with materials available in both English and Spanish.

Family Nutrition Program (FNP)--The Family Nutrition Program, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance, provides nutrition education to food stamp recipients and those eligible for food stamps. In the past two years, FNP programs have been implemented at 10 sites around the state, reaching youth, adults, and the elderly. Projects include a Junior Chef program to teach Boston youth basic food preparation, and another on community gardening. In Brockton, an after-school program helps adolescent girls make good food choices to maintain ahealthful weight. In New Bedford, FNP provides a cafeteria program which promotes variety in the diet. Nutrition education also is available for elders in Springfield, with trained volunteers delivering programs. In 1999, FNP will be expanded to include three additional community sites and four research projects to support program development.

Nutrition and Health Programs (NEP)-- cooperates with agencies serving high-risk populations, children, and elderly by providing training on basic nutrition concepts such as the U.S. Dietary Guidelines and the Food Guide Pyramid to day care providers and homemaker/ home health aides. Learn-at-Home courses on nutrition for young children provide continuing education credits through the Office of Child Care Services to family day care providers. NEP collaborates with state education, public health, and human service agencies to sponsor video conferences on a variety of nutrition, lifestyle, and disease topics.

Teachers participate in continuing nutrition education through the Internet Nutrition Online Program. NIBBLE (Nutrition Information and Bulletin Board Learning Experience) is designed for learners in adult basic education programs to use computer skills and access basic nutrition information.

The "Nutrition News and Reviews" newsletter provides articles on timely nutrition topics to agencies serving high-risk groups. Reproducible fact sheets and information on NEP programs and resources are included in each issue.

Food Safety Programs--Food safety education programs are designed to improve food safety practices. Workshops and courses are offered to regulators and food workers in high-risk settings such as child care centers, senior meal sites, schools, food pantries, and homeless shelters. "Food Handling is a Risky Business" is a one- to two-hour workshop that focuses on basic concepts of bacterial growth and contamination and ways to prevent food-borne illness through personal hygiene, time and temperature control, and prevention of cross-contamination. Servsafe is a 12- to15-hour nationally recognized food sanitation certification training program that describes food hazards and introduces the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) system as a method of preventing food-borne illness. NEP collaborates with state and federal agencies and associations through the Massachusetts Partnership for Food Safety Education to provide food workers and consumers with easy access to food safety education and information. Partners include: the USDA's Food and Nutrition and Food Safety and Inspection Services; US FDA's Consumer Protection and Food Protection; Massachusetts Departments of Education, Food and Agriculture, and Public Health (Division of Food and Drugs); Executive Office of Elder Affairs; Massachusetts Head Start; Massachusetts Food Banks; Massachusetts Food Association; Massachusetts Restaurant Association; Massachusetts Environmental Health Association; Massachusetts Health Officers Association; Massachusetts Milk, Food, and Environmental Inspectors Association; and Massachusetts School Food Service Association. HACCP and general food safety education materials are available for loan and/or purchase through the NEP Food Safety Education Program.

Program Management

A network of outreach staff works in collaboration with University faculty and agency professionals in communities selected on the basis of need and potential impact. Program sites are located in:

State NEP Office
Amherst

Major NEP Units
Northeast: Lawrence
Southeast: New Bedford
Central: Worcester
West: Springfield

Branch NEP Units
Jamaica Plain
Brockton

Other Sites
Barnstable
Hanson
Holyoke
Waltham
Pittsfield