Areas in CSREES Nutrition
Education Programs
Four broad program areas—food security,
food safety, dietary guidance, and health—are
the foundation of CSREES nutrition education
programs.
Food
security can be defined as access by
all people at all times to enough food
for an active, healthy life. At a minimum,
this includes:
- Readily available, nutritionally adequate,
and safe foods.
- Assured ability to acquire personally
acceptable foods in a socially acceptable
way.
In cooperation with our land-grant partners,
CSREES provides practical, science-based
education to the general public about affordable
and accessible food, food resource management,
food recovery and food rescue, gleaning and
food donations. We also train staff and volunteers
at emergency food assistance sites and other
locations. We provide public issues education
by:
- Facilitating open forums to discuss hunger
and poverty at the community level.
- Encouraging and facilitating citizen
and consumer participation in public policy
issues affecting food access and recovery.
To ensure safe food handling, CSREES promotes food
safety, providing consumer education
for proper food handling, certificate training
for food handlers, and food safety education
for growers, producers, distributors, retailers,
and food service workers.
Dietary guidance is the use of principles
found in the Dietary
Guidelines for Americans to develop non-formal
nutrition education services for youth and
adults. There are also programs for the elderly
that focus on their specific nutritional
needs. Our land-grant partners offer these
community-based nutrition education programs
at the local level. Participants learn about
the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and
the MyPyramid,
which provide the basis for healthy lifestyle
choices, and on how to read labels on processed
foods. Participants also learn about health
risk factors such as obesity and hypertension,
and learn to make appropriate nutrition and
lifestyle changes.
CSREES provides health promotion
for consumers by promoting home and occupational
safety and accessing quality health care.
We also provide public issues education and
education on personal, family, and community
health issues.
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