MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. – Butterball, LLC, the nation’s largest turkey producer, celebrated food safety month through a children’s coloring contest and a series of employee challenges at the company’s Mount Olive, N.C. facility. As part of the company’s commitment to providing healthy, wholesome products to consumers, these activities helped raise awareness of proper hand-washing, food preparation and illness prevention techniques.
“Butterball is a proud leader in food quality and safety and continually strives to strengthen its food safety programs to ensure its products are 100 percent safe for consumers,” said Anita Colglazier, director of quality further processing at Butterball. “Food safety month provided the opportunity for Butterball to promote the positive practices we implement everyday and encourage our employees to showcase their home food safety precautions as well.”
The facility hosted a coloring contest for the children of facility employees. While at work, associates participated in a hand washing challenge using “magic glowing bug lotion” and a black light enabling employees to see firsthand the areas that need extra scrubbing. Additionally, the facility posted food safety facts throughout the building to provide healthy tips for employees.
“One of the easiest and fastest ways to prevent food-borne illness is by practicing proper hand-washing techniques several times each day,” said Colglazier. “Whether at home or at work, it is important for our associates to adhere to the most effective food safety processes.”
Butterball recommends the following proper hand-washing techniques to help prevent illness.
1. Wet hands with warm, running water.
2. Add soap and rub hands together to make a soapy lather. Do this away from running water to avoid washing the bubbles away.
3. Wash the front and back of hands, between fingers and your nails. While doing this either count slowly to 20, sing Happy Birthday, or say the ABC’s. This will take about 20 seconds.
4. Rinse hands well under warm running water. Let the water run back into the sink, not down elbows.
5. Dry hands thoroughly with a clean paper towel.
About Butterball, LLC:
Butterball, LLC is the largest producer of turkey products in the United States. Headquartered in Garner, N.C., Butterball produces more than 1 billion pounds of turkey each year, and the company supplies its products to more than 30 countries. Perhaps best known for its succulent whole bird products, the company also has a broad array of offerings for deli, retail and foodservice.
As the industry leader in quality and food safety, the company employs numerous processes to ensure the health of birds and implements recognized prevention measures to exceed food safety standards in its seven plants located in North Carolina, Colorado, Arkansas and Missouri. In addition, Butterball has surpassed important workplace safety and health benchmarks set forth by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Voluntary Protection Program.
The company’s three-pronged approach to Doing Business Right focuses on self-governance, sustainability and social responsibility. The initiative plays a key role in providing internal oversight for integrating values that are important to the company, in particular its efforts to reduce its environmental footprint.
For more information about Butterball, visit www.butterball.com. You can also call
1-800 BUTTERBALL for answers to your most puzzling questions about turkey preparation.
Source: Butterball, LLC