It is the time of year for visiting pumpkin patches, fall festivals and Christmas tree farms. Many of these venues have petting zoos and sell food products – a combination that is a potential health risk if proper hand washing isn’t included.

As tropical storms and hurricanes pound the U.S. East Coast, homeowners listen closely to local weather broadcasts. Whether or not a record-breaking storm affects you, University of Georgia experts say that having an emergency food supply on hand is always a good idea.

Mike Doyle doesn’t eat raw bean sprouts, medium-rare hamburgers or bagged salads. He isn’t on a special diet, but as director of the University of Georgia Center for Food Safety in Griffin, Georgia, he studies the food pathogens that sicken thousands of Americans each year. For a time, foodborne illness was most often connected with undercooked meats; today, 33 percent of cases are tracked back to raw produce.

The University of Georgia Radon Education Program recommends testing your home for radon in recognition of National Radon Action Month in January.

The University of Georgia Traffic Injury Prevention Institute has been awarded a $642,900 grant from the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety to continue its statewide education programs in the areas of child passenger safety, parent and teen driving safety and senior driver education.

The current highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5 outbreak in the United States is a concern for the commercial poultry industry, not the general population, says a University of Georgia poultry expert. Humans won’t be infected with avian influenza by eating chicken or other poultry products. Nearly all previous cases of human infections with other avian influenza viruses involved close, direct contact with infected poultry, but little to no direct transmission from person to person. While the HPAI H5 virus has caused some severe devastation for the U.S. commercial poultry industry, there have been no reports of infections in humans, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers the risk to people from this virus to be low.

In a recent study funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, University of Georgia researchers found that produce containing bacteria are likely to contaminate other produce items through the continued use of knives or graters — the bacteria latches onto the utensils commonly found in consumers’ homes and spreads to the next item.

Keeping produce safe means keeping harmful bacteria, viruses and parasites from contaminating fruits and vegetables. Enjoy the rewards of growing food through planning and some practical food safety tips.

Maxwell Lamptey is visiting America, specifically Griffin, Georgia, in the hopes of learning new methods to fight aflatoxin — a carcinogen produced by soil fungus that can grow on peanuts — in his home country of Ghana.