March 10, 2010 08:58 ET

Government of Canada Launches Website With One Stop Access to Food Safety

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 10, 2010) -

Core news facts:

- The Government of Canada launched a new website that provides Canadians with one-stop, easy access to food safety information. It gives Canadians valuable tips and tools to help them reduce the risk of foodborne illness and acts as a gateway to important information during foodborne illness emergencies.

- The website includes information from Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada.

- The food safety website, located at healthycanadians.gc.ca, offers a broad range of food safety information including resources on:

- food recalls and allergy alerts

- safe food handling and preparation

- food labels

- foodborne illness

- In addition to signing up for email alerts through the website, consumers can easily report their own food safety concerns.

- Sign up for recall and allergy alerts

- Get food safety tips

- Know your role in food safety

- New mobile and social media tools are available to help Canadians stay informed about food safety:

- Subscribe to RSS updates for food recalls and allergy alerts. They will be delivered to your RSS reader.

- Stay on top of food recall and allergy alerts with notifications delivered directly to your email account.

- Follow the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for food recalls and allergy alerts.

- Embed this widget on your website, blog or social media page to share up-to-date recalls and allergy alerts with your viewers.

- Learn more by visiting www.healthycanadians.gc.ca or by calling 1 800 O-Canada

Background:

The new food safety website is designed to give Canadians tools that can help them prevent food-related illness. In addition to signing up for email alerts through the website, consumers can easily report their own food safety concerns.

The website has seven major sections:

- Recalls, Warnings and Reporting (http://foodsafety.gc.ca/english/main/raprece.asp) allows consumers to sign up to receive food recalls and allergy alerts directly into their email inboxes, and to get information about how to report a food safety concern.

- Safe Food Handling and Preparation (http://foodsafety.gc.ca/english/main/prepare.asp) provides tips on how to prevent harmful bacteria from spreading in the kitchen. It offers advice on cleaning, storing, preparing, and cooking food, and provides safe food handling tips on a range of different foods.

- Food Labels (http://foodsafety.gc.ca/english/main/labetie.asp) shows how to make informed choices about food based on nutrition labels.

- Food Allergies (http://foodsafety.gc.ca/english/main/allergie.asp) explains the symptoms of an allergic reaction and how to avoid them, and lists recent public advisories for high-risk food recalls.

- Understanding Food Safety (http://foodsafety.gc.ca/english/main/safsale.asp) connects consumers to a variety of information on additives and genetically modified food, chemical products, packaging, irradiated foods, bottled water and toxins.

- Food Poisoning (http://foodsafety.gc.ca/english/main/poisintoxe.asp) describes the common causes of food poisoning, and what to do if someone gets sick from food.

- Roles in Food Safety (http://foodsafety.gc.ca/english/main/role.asp) outlines how consumers, government and industry work together to keep our food safe.

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