Food safety is more than four little words

It sounds simple, right? Clean. Separate. Cook. Chill.

Perhaps it’s too simple.

Not long after dozens died in Europe because of an E. coli outbreak, the U.S. government launched an awareness campaign to help Americans understand how to handle food safely in order to prevent food-borne illnesses.

It’s long been known that the kitchen is the largest source of food-related contaminants, so it’s highly relevant to address this. But good kitchen habits aren’t going to prevent consumers from all physical, chemical, and biological contaminants in their food. The process begins well before the kitchen stage. And people need to understand that fact, too.

It’s anyone’s guess as to whether the four little ad-campaign words -- clean, separate, cool, chill -- will catch on the way that some of the other government awareness campaigns have. This latest one is spearheaded by the Ad Council, which The Associated Press notes in its report was “behind other famous government ad campaigns like ‘Friends don't let friends drive drunk’ and Smokey Bear’s efforts to stamp out forest fires.”

But this isn’t like those “other famous government ad campaigns.” Things like not playing with fire and buckling your seat belt and not drinking and driving are straight-forward and simple concepts. In most of these cases, too, the consumer is in complete control of how the cause-vs.-effect plays out. Food safety is far more complex. The levels of cleanliness, the thoroughness of cooking, the details in how food is handled, it’s all much more intricate than “Click it or ticket” will ever be.

Like any rules, there needs to be a balance between delivery and depth. Too much information, and there runs the risk that consumers won’t retain much, that is, if they opt to read it all in the first place. Too little information and people may fail to see the gravity of the situation and the reasons for larger threats (for example: why deli meats or ground beef carry higher risks of certain types of contamination). The government on Tuesday put out its latest message -- a message that has good intentions -- but the four little only scratch the surface of what consumers face from their food.

The government put it out there; it’s for us and for media and for our leaders to help guide the fullness of the information distribution. Go to the website to get some context and real understanding of what it means to clean, separate, cook, and chill. In too many cases, the sanitized message makes the rounds while the meat of it grows stale on some Internet shelf. Don’t let that happen here.

Visit Foodsafety.gov.