PWDU-FSP Update June 29

Minnesota Department of Health sent this bulletin at 06/29/2020 01:05 PM CDT
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Partnership and Workforce Development – Food Safety Partnership Update

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June 29

Note from the Editor

The Minnesota Departments of Health and Agriculture, in collaboration with Minneapolis and Hennepin County Environmental Health departments, are working to translate fact sheets and other resources that relate to the Minnesota food code into Hmong, Somali, and Spanish.

We are looking for volunteers who have at least 1 hour to review draft translations. Volunteers will provide suggestions for how we can make the Hmong, Somali, and Spanish translations better before we publish them.

Follow the link below to volunteer, and please share this bulletin with Hmong, Somali, and Spanish speaking retail food employees, managers, owners, or operators who may be interested.

Sarah and the PWDU team

Translation Community Review Volunteers

Hmong | Somali | Spanish

Volunteers need to be:

  1. Native speakers of Hmong, Somali, or Spanish.
  2. Retail food employees, managers, owners, or operators. Any level of experience in retail food (restaurants, bars, coffee shops, grocery stores, etc.) is OK.
  3. Able to provide written feedback in English. You can have someone help you with this, if needed.
  4. Able to receive documents through email.
  5. Able to use an online form to send us your comments.

MDH and the MDA are unable to pay you for your time.

You can use this short form to volunteer: Translation Community Review Volunteer. We will contact you via email if you are selected to participate.

Better food safety information for Hmong, Somali, and Spanish speaking communities in Minnesota

The Minnesota Departments of Health and Agriculture (MDH and the MDA) have received grant funding from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) via the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) to translate food code documents. The grant funding will enable the agencies to:

  • Create food code resources that focus on foodborne illness risk factors for Hmong, Somali, and Spanish speaking food workers.
  • Post translated documents online for easy accessibility.
  • Inform and train regulatory staff of translated materials once available for use.

Translations will improve food safety in Minnesota

Currently, most documents interpreting Minnesota food code are in English only. We recognize there is a significant gap, especially because many front-line food employees speak a language other than English as their first language.

By having food code fact sheets and other documents available in Hmong, Somali, and Spanish, we hope to:

  • Reduce the occurrence foodborne illness risk factors and promote long-term control of foodborne illness risk factor violations.
  • Help to better serve our Hmong, Somali, and Spanish speaking communities.
  • Provide additional outreach and education for Minnesota’s retail food industry.
  • Continue to work towards uniform retail food inspections.

Participation is voluntary and optional