Luanne J. Hughes, MS, RD, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, Rutgers Cooperative Extension, Rutgers University, 1200 North Delsea Drive, Clayton, NJ 08312, 8563076461, hughes@rce.rutgers.edu and Daryl L. Minch, MEd, CFCS, Department of Family & Consumer Sciences, Rutgers Cooperative Extension, Rutgers University, 310 Milltown Road, Bridgewater, NJ 08807.

Infants and children are particularly susceptible to foodborne illness because their immune systems are not yet fully developed to fight infection. Yet, most food safety instructional materials do not specifically target this group or their parents/caregivers.

This original contribution presents an innovative educational program called "Handle With Care." "Handle With Care" was developed to improve food safety knowledge and food handling practices of limited resource parents/caregivers. Behaviorally focused messages were designed with the use of needs assessments and focus groups to better target and deliver messages to clients. Multi-cultural fact sheets, posters and lessons stress the importance of "Clean It" and "Cook It" to improve food handling practices.

To date, more than 500 New Jersey residents have participated in the pilot phase of this unique food safety program. Paired t-tests were used to assess differences in reported behavior after participation in the "Handle With Care" project. Although impact was difficult to assess, give participants' high baseline (pre-test) scores, there was a positive, although not significant, trend showing improvements in several key behaviors after instruction, two of which are outlined below:

Scale: 1=never, 2=rarely or never, 3=sometimes, 4=about half of the time, 5=about half of the time, 6=most of the time

- How often kitchen counters/tables were cleaned before using them to prepare bottles or food for a child Mean Pre-Test=3.15, Mean Post-Test=4.99, p=0.20

- How often meat thermometers were used to determine doneness Mean Pre-Test=1.69, Mean Post-Test=3.83, p=0.50

Scale: 1=never, 2=rarely or never, 3=sometimes but less than ½ time, 4=about ½ time, 5=most of the time

- How often child's bottle was heated in the microwave Mean Pre-Test=4.33, Mean Post-Test=2.11, p=0.09

Learning Objectives: