The Child Nutrition Department maintains strict food safety and preparation practices as specified by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Tips to keep food safe at home:

• Wash hands before preparing food, before eating, and after handling raw meat.
• Use a separate knife and cutting board to prepare meat.
• Use separate utensils for cooking and serving meats.
• Serve cold food cold, and hot food hot.
• Thaw frozen food in the refrigerator or under cold running water, not on the counter.
• Check expiration dates on food at the store. Don’t serve meat or fish with unusual odors or that look strange.
• Choose pasteurized juices.

Bringing Homemade Foods into the Classroom:

• Service of home-prepared foods is not permitted under Colorado's State Health Deparment regulations for school food service.
• Homemade food items and snacks should not be permitted in schools with the intent of sharing these with others, i.e. classroon parties, including birthday celebrations, potlucks, etc.
• If it is necessary to have food in classrooms, only commercially prepared foods from retail stores should be served.
• If items are not individually wrapped, an adult using a serving utensil should provide a serving to each child. Children should not be permitted to put their hands into a common container to serve themselves, i.e. popcorn from a common bowl, cookies from a common package, etc.

More food safety tips:

• Center for Disease Control – Food Safety
• National Library of Medicine – Food Safety
• Nemours Foundation
• USDA Food Safety for Kids and Teens