An estimated 1 in 6 (48 million) Americans get sick from foodborne illness each year, resulting in roughly 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Children are among the most vulnerable to food poisoning because their immune systems are still developing, so parents and caregivers need to take extra precautions when preparing food for children under five.

The new PSAs, featuring everyone’s favorite Chipmunks – Alvin, Simon, and Theodore – highlight the four food safety steps consumers can use to prevent foodborne illness. The Chipmunks’ antics and hilarious situations in which they find themselves provide a perfect platform to illustrate these four steps: Clean, Separate, Cook, and Chill. The PSAs help explain actions anyone can take to safely prepare their food, using the Chipmunks as the tool to bring fun and relevancy to a serious topic. The partnership includes TV, radio, out-of-home and web advertising, and parents and children can also find kid-friendly activities that further reinforce the food safety steps by visiting FoodSafety.gov.

“Young children are at a higher risk for foodborne illness, and keeping them safe is a top priority for FSIS,” said Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety Alfred Almanza. “These familiar characters offer USDA a great opportunity to communicate this valuable public health message in a way to get the attention of children and parents.”

“We’re proud to continue our great work with the Ad Council, and their partner, the USDA,” said Zachary Eller, Senior Vice President, Marketing Partnerships, 20^th Century Fox. “We love that Alvin, Simon, and Theodore can help parents and kids navigate food safety.”

The new PSAs are an extension of USDA and Ad Council’s Food Safe Families campaign, which aims to raise awareness about the risk of foodborne illness and encourage families to learn and practice key steps that will help everyone stay safe from foodborne illness through the following safe food handling behaviors:

• Clean: Wash hands with soap and warm water before and after handling raw food. Clean all surfaces and utensils with warm water and soap. Wash all produce under running water before eating, cutting, or cooking.
• Separate: Use separate plates and utensils to avoid cross-contamination between raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs and foods that are ready to eat (like already cooked foods or raw vegetables).
• Cook: Cook foods to their safe internal temperature as measured by a food thermometer.
• Chill: Chill foods promptly if not consuming immediately after cooking. Don’t leave food at room temperature for longer than two hours, or 1 hour if temperature is above 90°F.

All campaign elements direct audiences to FoodSafety.gov, where they can learn more about food safety practices. There consumers can also access “Ask Karen,” an online database with answers to nearly 1,500 questions related to preventing foodborne illnesses in both English and Spanish. If consumers have questions about the shelf life of foods, they can download the FoodKeeper application on Android and Apple devices. This app helps users understand how different storing methods affect a product’s shelf life, and can remind users before an item is likely to spoil.

Launched in June of 2011, Food Safe Families is the first joint national multimedia public service campaign designed to help families prevent food poisoning in the home. Since launch, the campaign has received more than $120 million in donated media and campaign website, FoodSafety.gov has educated over 40 million visitors. Per the Ad Council model, the PSAs are distributed to media outlets nationwide and run in air time and space donated by the media.

The Ad Council
The Ad Council is a private, non-profit organization with a rich history of marshaling volunteer talent from the advertising and media industries to deliver critical messages to the American public. Having produced literally thousands of PSA campaigns addressing the most pressing social issues of the day, the Ad Council has affected, and continues to affect, tremendous positive change by raising awareness, inspiring action and saving lives. To learn more about the Ad Council and its campaigns, visit www.adcouncil.org, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or view our PSAs on YouTube.

USDA
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (www.fsis.usda.gov) is the public health regulatory agency in USDA responsible for ensuring that meat, poultry, and processed egg products are safe, wholesome, and accurately labeled. To accomplish this, FSIS employs approximately 7,600 inspection personnel who enforce the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Poultry Products Inspection Act, and the Egg Products Inspection Act. During Fiscal Year 2010, FSIS inspection personnel ensured public health requirements were met by inspecting 147 million head of livestock, nine billion poultry carcasses, and 2.6 billion pounds of processed egg products.

20^th Century Fox
One of the world’s largest producers and distributors of motion pictures, 20^th Century Fox produces, acquires and distributes motion pictures throughout the world. These motion pictures are produced or acquired by the following units of 20^th Century Fox Film: Twentieth Century Fox, Fox 2000 Pictures, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Fox International Productions, and Twentieth Century Fox Animation.

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