 All right, and I appreciate the invitation to be able to talk today. I Worked closely with Julie and so I think her for the invitation As Scott mentioned the title of my presentation today is on safe food sampling at farmers markets and other venues And just a little background on what qualifies me to do the presentation today in 2014 the Minnesota safe food sampling and food demonstration law was passed into Our legislation was passed into law and this allows The preparation and offering a food product sampling without requiring a food license to do so and so that's also for Sampling at different venues and also for food demonstrations as well So as a result we wanted to make sure that people were doing it safely So we created a safe food sampling Education training program and all of our materials are available free on our University of Minnesota extension food safety Website and we created a four-part series. That's a recorded presentations Recorded presentation that you can take a peek at and also we have a safe food sampling tips List and then a checklist to to make sure that You're following safe food handling practices to Sample food safely and so today's topics what I'm going to talk about is I did do some Literature review on best practices for when what and where to offer food samples And then I'll follow that up with best food safety practices for providing food samples So let's start out with a definition on what is a food product sample a Food product sample is a free bite-sized portion of food our beverage And really you're offering it to Demonstrate its characteristics the sample size is small usually two to three ounce portions and Usually is contained in a single serving and the main ingredient of that food product sample is something that you're promoting or selling and It's Usually again sing single service. So let's look at some sampling opportunities So a farmer or grower may offer a food product sample produced from their farm or Garden and they may offer an add-off farm ingredients such as an apple slice and then they add commercially prepared caramel with it or A vendor at a craft or food show offer samples of a product that they are settling this couple here This couple here is sampling Some grains that they produced it and made into cereal and I happen to sample it And of course I bought the cereal is delicious if you've ever been to a State fair or expo you likely see people selling cookware and Individuals they may make use their cookware and make up Make up a food sample and really what they're trying to do is sell more cookware, right? Or there may be an education or nutrition focus to the food sampling. So here educators are sampling nutritious food Keeps going forward to promote food preparation and nutrition concepts at a community health fair Or you may have a chef that's demonstrating a preparation technique and offers a sample as a way to Get people to try and try something new So now let's take a look at some best food sampling venues a regional farm market sampling survey of 3,400 respondents from eight states Indiana Illinois Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia found the five most popular venues to offer food samples are At community farmer markets at grocery stores at club stores where you actually pay a membership fee like a Sam's or a Costco And on farm retail market or at a festival or event So in the chat box if you wouldn't mind sharing your experience with food product sampling you either as a customer or a vendor so give you a minute to type in your Food sampling experience in scott's for some reason. I'm not seeing responses. Oh, here we go We got they're starting to come in now We sample products generally snack mixes that pride of Dakota events from Laura. Thank you Nancy doesn't have any experience with Selling or sampling product. I know here in Minnesota our SNAP educators are very involved in Sampling at farmers markets as well too and helping out So if you don't have time to Sample your product you may want to look for other resources that could help you out. Maybe a 4-H club or Again nutrition educators Family friends Let's see Ashley says we've sampled our jellies at farmers markets and vendor shows excellent All right, well feel free. I'm gonna continue on but feel free if something comes to mind go ahead and put it in the chat So what to sample? Sampling is one of the most commonly used marketing techniques in the food business To showcase a product and ultimately increase the sales of that product Kentucky research found that 55% of the farm market patrons who sampled the product Purchased the product when they hadn't planned on it So it really does help increase the sales of that product the regional farm market sampling survey from the eight states That I mentioned earlier found favorite items customers like to sample our fresh fruit fresh vegetables cheese and baked products Customers want to sample what you are selling. So try to keep it simple if Samples are complimentary of each other and you're selling both you can sample one or two items But again, try to keep it simple if you have more than three or four items. It's a lot of work for you and it also is Hard for the consumer to really narrow down and pick pick their favorite favorite Especially if it's like five different types of jams. So I'll keep it simple both for you and for your customer so when to sample a way to decide when to sample is really To look at traffic patterns from previous events or check with the event planner When are the busiest times that that's the best time to sample and also Taking into consideration the holiday weekends a lot of times people are coming through Your area and we'll stop at my markets or if there's events in the area that may Draw people or it may detract people from the market or the event that you're sampling it So a survey at 11 farm markets in Kentucky found these were the top reasons why People try food samples one is the friendliness of the vendor. So they're very inviting and engaging and pleasant It's easy to get and access the food samples. It's a really nice Presentation of the samples and displays. They're attractive. It's not cluttered They're curious about an unknown product or they're familiar with the product Why don't patrons sample? That Kentucky survey found that people don't sample because Samples are gone or they weren't available The area was really crowded and hard to get to They're uncertain of the taste uncertain of the ingredients and then they had some food safety concerns And this was followed by dietary restrictions or the product wasn't grown or prepared to their standards like organic or culture So what is your greatest food safety concern with offering or tasting food samples? If you want to something comes to mind if you want to type that in the chat box, that would be good so Ashley said she sampled that her jelly that farmers markets and vendor shows and Lucinda said grocery stores and winery and if you have any Food safety concerns or challenges either to why why you're aren't Sampling or providing samples or questions you might have or feel free to Type that type anytime. Let's do your concern For sure Thanks Linda for that comment so we're going to now move on to Preparing food samples to address some food safety concerns both that vendors have and Tasters have and so we're going to start with regulations Laura's saying we stay away from sampling fresh fruit and veggies or other items that might need to Need or do better with refrigeration Really good point So with regulations They're going to vary by location venue or state So you want to check with your local or state health department to find out what is and isn't allowed in your area And ask the question if you're if a license or temporary permit it's required for food product sampling Like I said earlier in Minnesota Samples that are offered by a vendor or through cooking demonstrations that farmer markets and community events Are excluded from a food license, but there are requirements of our special food licensing Event that have to be followed and then you also want to check with the venue too because they may have some Approval process or other requirements as well So displays and signage will help promote safe food sampling and then also inform the consumer So when you're offering food samples, it should be offered under cover. So under a tent Some people use an umbrella Or in a building but not from the tailgate of your truck Canopy or tent or other overhead protection prevents overhead contamination from birds or wind dust and then you want to be strategic of where you locate your Sampling stand so you want to have it so that it protects from environment both environmental and human contamination So separate it from bathrooms port-a-potties petting zoos Water did come drainage. Don't so don't have it downhill But water Could drain onto it. So place a stand on a surface to control dust and Mud like concrete or asphalt is great if you're on grass dirt or gravel Cover that surface with a non-absorbent matte rubber or sealed plywood to control contamination from mud or dust and Indoor venues are really great because they will take care of the overhead protection and also the flooring issue And then signage lets customers know that you're offering samples and will draw customers to your stand You can protect your signage by Laminating it or put it in a plastic sleeve or I've seen people get really creative with chalkboards or whiteboards too So let the customers know what you are sampling and who is offering that sample so in this picture here the vendor displays a lid of What the jam is being sampled and then who the farm is and then also the ingredients are listed there as well some markets Our venues will have a central sampling or demonstration stand And if that is so making sure that you provide signage with the name of the producer of the name of the product and then Who the organization that's also sampling and preparing those samples Include a food allergy Warning sign if your sample contains one or more of the big eight food allergens and this really is very important for those People that have food allergies or intolerances or sensitivities So the eight food categories that cause 90% of our food allergic reactions in the United States include peanuts tree nuts fish shellfish milk egg soy and wheat So read ingredient labels to see if the product contains Any of the big eight allergens if it does be sure to post a food allergen sign like this one here for serving zucchini walnut bread You'd want to put a sign that says contains eggs wheat milk and walnuts Handwashing is a key to providing safe food samples in this section You'll learn how to set up a temporary hand wash station how and when to wash your hands So remember that germs that can make us sick are invisible We can't see them, but they may be on our hands So hand washing is the most effective way to control and prevent cross-contamination in the spread of germs to food If you prepare and provide food samples, you will need a hand washing station that your sampling stand And you can bring and set up a portable Temporary hand washing station to the venue to make a temporary gravity-fed Hand washing station you will need a five to fifteen gallon insulated thermos type container with warm water That water should be from a public water supply or it can come from a private well That meets the state's health department safe drinking water and well water standards The water needs to full slow freely Through a turnstile or flip up spout so that there's a steady stream of water So the push button thermoses would not work for hand washing You will also need soap and any kind of soap will do Bring paper towels and put the roll on a heavy stand so it doesn't blow away You will need a five gallon bucket or container to catch the dirty used water You will need a trash can or a pill for paper towels And you'll also need a table or a cart to put the hand washing supplies on and to elevate that water Container off the ground so you can properly wash your hands a health inspector told me once that She saw a temporary hand washing station on a curb So that's not really Accessible for hand washing So when you arrive at the event or venue you want to set up the hand washing station first before unpacking Other supplies and preparing food the hand washing station is for you the food prepareer not for your customers and Your hand washing station needs to be accessible to all persons helping prepare and dispense the samples You want to locate the hand washing station? So water does not splash on the food or food contact surfaces during the hand washing process Process which would contaminate the food There needs to be enough water and supplies for everyone to last the entire time of sampling of a sampling session So this is um, maybe new and very important You need to maintain enough water pressure in the container to adequately wash your hands and So you'll need one gallon of water remaining in the container at all times That's two inches above the spout or spigot So you'll need to bring extra water to maintain this level in your dispenser If you run out of water or it goes two inches, you'll need to stop sampling for the day To help conserve water though. You can after you wet your hands After you wet your hands turn off the spigot of play soap Then scrub for 20 seconds and then turn the spigot back on to rinse So now we'll talk about when to wash your hands When you're during sampling events, so wash your hands when you before you start preparing your food Before you're serving samples of beginning a new task You're going to wash your hands, of course after using the restroom after handling raw beet poultry And eggs or your raw produce if you're up Selling produce at the same time and bang that up for somebody and then get ready to Prepare a sample making sure you wash your your hands in between Anytime you're handling animals eating smoking coughing or blowing your nose Wash your hands after touching your hair body or face wash your hands after handling garbage or cleaning After shaking hands handling money or after using the phone I'm just going to jump back to that but take your time to wash your hands well Customers will wait for you and they want to see hand washing done Remember that gloves wet wipes or hand sanitizers or washing your hands in the dish water Are not substitutes for washing your hands So again wash your hands often if you do it when you're required to do it every time everything on this list Your trash can will show it. It'll be full of paper towels So your health and hygiene also plays an important role in preventing foodborne on this And so we're going to look at some dues regarding your health and hygiene So be sure to stay home if you're if you're ill improper hand washing and Working while ill are recently ill our major causes of foodborne illness So you must not prepare or serve food samples if ill with vomiting and our diarrhea for at least 72 hours After symptoms and so that's three days after you recover. You should not be preparing food samples Train your volunteers and workers to report illness and to stay home if ill Make sure that you're washing your hands often and do it right rub and scrub for 20 seconds with soap and water and Then clothing bacteria can harbor in clothing So do wear clean clothings if you're out in the the garden our and Harvesting produce make sure that you're changing your your clothes or putting on a clean apron when you're preparing your food samples Do keep your fingernails short trimmed and filed Bacterium viruses can lodge in long and uneven nails And if you're preparing food Don't wear fingernail polish or acrylic nails as they can chip and become a hazard and do check hands wrist and forearms forearms for any cuts and Wounds and then you want to cover those cuts with a Bandage and then also wear single-use gloves and the reason for this is because Staphylococcus aureus can harbor in cuts and This bacteria is not destroyed by cooking or heat and then finally Keep hair out of food by wearing Hat visor or scarf and then put long hair in a ponytail. No one wants a hair in their food sample Find a few don'ts regarding health and hygiene and Don't eat or drink while preparing and serving food product samples And this is because of the risk of hand-to-mouth contamination and saliva can spray from chewing or swallowing Into food or food contact surfaces Don't wear rings watches of jewelry on your hands or arms as they are a major source of contamination Personal items like cell phones and purses should be kept off and away from food preparation tables and areas As they are also a major source of contamination. This happens to be my daughter She was helping at a rot cell for her High school graduation party and I caught a picture of her on the phone with her gloves on So preparation of samples will move into that next Highlighting some safe food handling practices for preparing and serving food samples So planning really is your first step in key to providing safe food product samples. You want to think through Preparation steps for each sample. So think about how you will wash cut assemble cook bake cool Keep cold heat cook keep hot store portion and serves serve the samples So think through your equipment needs also for each step to prepare your Sample on site. How will you safely transport and sort and store food and equipment? To and at the venue of totes really work well with covers and you can make a portable kitchen to bring to the venue So where you prepare your samples will be will depend upon Who you are if you carry a food license like a licensed bakery or you are a cottage food producer You can prepare your samples on site Other than cottage food, you cannot prepare food samples in your home or to transport to the event You could use a licensed commercial kitchen to prepare the sample and bring it to the venue for sampling Just make make sure you check with that kitchen because they will have different requirements and Some require you to be a certified food manager which requires more training to use their facilities So most farmer market vendors that are do Food sampling or food demonstrations will prepare their samples on site at the venue So be sure to bring enough equipment and utensils to prepare your samples on site You'll want to bring enough so that you never have to reuse the dirty item Or you can wash the equipment at the market for reuse during the sampling or food demonstration event Be sure to store your totes coolers off the ground on pallets or tables shelving Again to prevent from dust contamination Store food and equipment away from chemicals including sanitizer sunscreen insect sprays Those are things we sometimes forget that can contaminate food But no matter where Sorry right PowerPoints jumping around for some reason So we're going to focus a little bit on produce because remember people like to sample fresh produce And it's the most commonly product sample that a farmer's market But if you sample on produce you will need to wash all fruit and vegetables under running water before peeling cutting or serving you you have two options one is to wash the produce in the licensed commercial kitchen or Two you can wash that produce on site at the market No matter where you clean your produce you want to make sure that you're following these steps To avoid contamination Wash your hands before and after handling fresh produce wash all fresh Produce under running water before cutting or preparing it including those with skins and rinds like melons scrub fruits and vegetables with a firm skin like Apples carrots cucumbers with a clean produce brush to remove any dirt and microbes pull apart any leaf leafy vegetables like Broccoli to make sure that you're really washing all surfaces And then you want to rinse well and then drain your produce in a colander or a salad spinner Really works well to remove moisture But if you clean produce on site at the market or your vent location Use water from your hand washing station to bring a Or bring a separate container for washing produce if you use the hand washing station You'll need to have two catch buckets One to collect the hand wash water and one to collect the produce wash water This prevents the splashing of contaminate water collected from hand washing onto the produce produce if you're washing Some markets or events may have a central produce washing station for vendors to use so check with the market manager or event Organize or unavailability So to avoid contamination of the of the produce you just washed you want to make sure You're applying some safe food handling practices and this includes not touching the produce with your bare hands so creating a barrier between the produce and In your hand, so you could wear gloves single service utensils the tongs or use a non-absorbent deli tissue or wax paper and Then making sure that you're using the cutting board that's only used for produce So there's no risk of cross-contamination between raw Pollutrient meat and that anything that you're using to prepare that produce sample. It's clean So your pealers nice and salad spinners and then cut away any damaged or bruised areas because they can contain Pathogens and then finally after you're done preparing your samples. What are you going to do wash your hands? There's a lot to preparing food samples, isn't there? So now we'll talk about time and temperature so perishable food product samples need time and temperature control for safety and This is the temperature danger zone and the temperature of a food is critical for safety This thermometer shows that the temperature danger zone where bacteria likes to grow and thrive It's between 40 and a hundred forty degrees Fahrenheit So if perishable food is kept in this temperature range for more than four hours bacteria can grow and Multiply and make someone sick to prevent this from happening Demometers are our friend The monitors happen to be a very important tool to check food and equipment temperatures So you can Purchase and buy appliance thermometers from a variety of stores Put them in your cooler and then bring and use calibrated food thermometers to check cold holding Cooking and hot holding temperatures of your food product samples Check the temperature of the food with food thermometer at least every four hours to ensure that it's at the proper temperature If the food is falls in that temperature danger zone over 40 to a hundred and forty degrees You should throw it away discard it If you're happy to do any cooking of meat, poultry or Fish you want to make sure that you're cooking it to a safe final cooking temperature And verify that with a food thermometer. There's only three temperatures to remember Depending on what you're cooking 165 degrees for all poultry products 160 degrees for ground meat and egg dishes and then there's a hundred and forty five degrees for fish pork and steak if there are roaster chops and And But the big thing there is that you want to make sure that you let it rest for three minutes so that the entire product Is a hundred and forty five degrees Now these are minimum internal temperatures for food safety. You can cook all these products to a higher temperature Once the product is fully cooked you want to keep hot foods hot at a hundred and forty degrees or hotter You can use hot plates electrical skillets or propane grills to cook and keep hot food hot Don't use a domestic Slow cooker or household slow cooker to hold hot foods because every time you lift off the cover It takes 20 minutes to heat back up But a commercial food grade our food service grade warmers do work really well to keep your hot food hot And then you also want to keep safety in mind as well So you check with the market or event manager about local electrical and fire code requirements For example, if you're using a propane tank greater than 20 pounds You may be required to get a permit from the local fire department Whenever you're cooking a fire extinguisher is required Um and for grills and fire and fryers, uh, they need to be roped off four feet from the public To prevent injury from burns and splashes of hot trees So now let's focus on cold food What equipment do you need to keep cold foods below 40 degrees Fahrenheit? Coolers are allowed to hold cold food. Uh, if you're holding that for less than four hours If you you'll be over that four hours, then um, you'll need mechanical refrigeration Electrical coolers electric coolers with battery packs Are plugins. They are considered mechanical refrigeration and will work Coolers need to be durable leak and absorbent proof Cleanable with a tight fitting lid You want to fill your coolers with ice packs or ice jugs Don't use bags of ice as they can leak and become a source of contamination as the ice melts Place an appliance thermometer in each cooler you use The food of the cooler should be at 40 degrees or colder So you want that appliance thermometer to read 36 to 38 degrees Depending on what you're sampling you may need to have more than one cooler You should have a cooler for raw products and a separate cooler Designated for ready to eat products Plan ahead so that you have enough cooler space for all items that need to be kept cold If you're serving a beverage that you need to add ice to like a kale smoothie You'll need an additional cooler for the ice Use ice purchase from a commercial source. Uh, because of the risk of contamination Don't use ice from your home freezer or your home refrigerator ice dispenser Use an ice scoop to dispense ice Have a container to hold the scoop when not in use don't keep the scoop in the ice In the cooler as the handle can contaminate the ice So let's move into you prepared your samples safely. So now let's talk about dispensing those samples safely You want to use single service items like toothpicks and plastic spoons Which cause customers throw away after consuming the sample Place a toothpick and an apple slice provide plastic spoons for jelly samples Put bread samples in a cupcake liner or on a small plate and then space those samples apart So customers don't touch the other samples when they pick up their sample And then do not prepare our dispense food samples with your bare hands We talked about that a little bit with the produce You want to create a barrier between ready to eat food in your hands? So on this slide, you'll see several examples of good barriers to use Gloves are the most commonly used But you can use again non-absorbent deli papers wax paper tongs scoops knives Labels depending on the product you are sample sampling Don't use paper towels or napkins because they Will they are absorbent So in the next few slides, we're going to look at some safe and unsafe dispensing practices So this actually is a safe dispensing practice The samples are covered with a dome to protect from environmental contamination. They're labeled with what the sample is And who is providing the samples? The melon salsa though does need time and temperature control for safety So best practice is to place just a few um salsa samples out at a time and replenish when gone Monitor the time you place the samples out and limit the time that it's out Keep any unportioned salsa in a cooler or under refrigeration And then I would also add a allergy alert sign for that zucchini bread If it contains tree nuts eggs soy and or wheat So this is an unsafe dispensing practice. Um, it's uncovered. It's prone to Environmental and customer contamination. It's unlabeled with the name of the sample and source But what could we do to make this sample safe? Um, we could put the samples on individual nap cans our plates or provide tongs Um, the top tomatoes for the buchetta requires temperature time and temperature to control it for Pathogen growth. So keep track of time. We could cover The container with plastic wrap to protect it from environmental contamination And then we can label with name of sample and source And then we would want to have a food allergy alert sign for the bread if it contains wheat This is a really safe dispensing practice of apple slices They're in individual servings with a single service utensil in each cup The cups are well spaced out Vendor has control over the samples. That's her arm there. So she's holding it. So instead of signage You as a vendor you can verbally explain What the sample is and what's in it and who it came from? And these are Sausages in this in cups. Um, this is a safe dispensing practice. They're in individual Servings with a single service toothpick in each sausage. There's a small amount that are displayed at a time Um But you want to keep the portioned Sausages hot until serving and people want to try if the food should be hot it should be hot That's what people want thing with cold food There's signage with the name of the samples and source again I'd add add a food allergen alert sign if needed Because um, some sausages may contain wheat as a filter as a filler or soy as a flavoring So it's really important that you read the ingredients that you use to prepare your food samples so that you know What's in it and if there's any Ingredients that's in that top eight elegance So we prepared everything safely. We're dispensing it safely and now we want to make sure that we're cleaning and sanitizing As well So all equipment food contact surfaces and utensils That you bring to the market must be cleaned and sanitized. You can bring enough Equipment that you never reuse a dirty item or you can wash the market For reuse during your sampling or food demonstration event You can set up a dishware and utensil washing station And what you would need to do there is to have three Containers bucket pales Bins or tubs. They should be food grade, which means they're designed to hold food or food contact surfaces So don't use buckets that previously contained chemicals or any of the top food allergens like ice cream buckets because you can't Thoroughly remove all of that all of that could still contain some alert of some allergen in it The containers need to be large enough So the largest item you will be washing can be fully immersed underwater in the container You also need an area to place a dish rack for air drying Be sure that the containers are on a table Do not place the containers on the ground as they're again a potential source for dust and mud to contaminate the buckets And again, it's not going to be accessible to do a good job at washing those dishes A dishwash station needs to be away from the hand washing station to prevent Contamination from the splashing of the dirty water into the dishwash buckets Preparation and serving utensils and surfaces need to be washed at least every four hours Label of the first bucket as you wash bucket. So you're going to fill that with hot water and soap And label the second rinse and you're going to fill that with clean hot water And rinsing is really important to remove soap if you have soap residue On your utensil The sanitizer won't be able to penetrate and to the surface and kill the germs And then you're going to label that third bucket With a sanitize sanitize and fill with warm water and add sanitizer The three water The water containers Should be changed every two hours or more often depending on use. So you're going to need to bring extra hot water If you need to change your water, you also need to have containers to store that dirty water And when you run out of water for dishes, uh, you should stop sampling chlorine bleach iodine and quaternary ammonia are the most commonly approved sanitizers for food and food content are for food contact surfaces The approved sanitizers have an epa registration number and instructions to Sanitize food contact surfaces. So that's what you're looking for on the label this household bleach has instructions for Use on laundry and disinfecting floors walls and sinks, but there's no instructions to use It to sanitize food contact surfaces. So you should not be using it On sanitizing dishes and utensils So again, you want to follow the manufacturer's instructions on how to mix it up and use that chemicals And the concentration is very important. So too much can be toxic and too little can Not be effective in killing pathogens So if you're going to use bleach as a sanitizer The recipe is one tablespoon of chlorine bleach to one gallon of water So this is the last section here. The final topic is disposing of the waste you collected during your sampling event You are responsible for safe disposal of all the water materials you use to prepare and serve Food samples. This includes the paper towels and water from washing hands water from dishwashing and containers used to dispense the samples So if you have any grease allow it to harden and place it in garbage container Waste water and grease cannot be poured on the ground In creeks ponds rivers in the street or down Street or storm drains because the water does not go through a wastewater collection system But this a proper disposal method can contaminate water The environment and attract pests At the end of the day, place all the garbage and paper waste in the container with a tight fitting lid Collect the wastewater cover it transported and dump in a designated wastewater collection system like a sink drain will work Just like camping if you bring it in bring it out Some bigger markets and events will provide Liquid or solid waste containers for your use. So check with your venue about what they provide I know that was a lot of information Hopefully I didn't scare you away from trying Sampling it can be a lot of fun and it can also really increase yourselves and promote Nutrition and other messages as well too So we honor university of minnesota extension website We do have a lot of great resources for you to check out Including that four-part series recorded presentation if you want to listen to that There's more details that I didn't cover in this presentation. But again, we have a checklist Tip sheet and their minnesota farmers market association actually put together a safe sampling worksheet So it actually helps you plan and think through all those steps that we just covered and they also have a hand washing station Checklist as well too and directions on how to retrofit a thermos with the push with a push button To a flip up spout The hands-free spout so so check that out if you're interested And here's my contact information feel free to contact me at any time with questions Or let me know what you're doing as far as food sampling. I love to hear stories and I'd love to see some pictures On what you're doing as well, and I'll take what take any questions that you might have