2008 Walter Barnard Hill Distinguished Public Service Fellow

Judy Harrison

Judy A. Harrison, a foods and nutrition professor and extension foods specialist, has educated people in Georgia and across the United States about food safety and preservation for more than 15 years. Programs she developed, especially the Smart Kids Fight BAC!® series, have become nationally-recognized educational tools about food-borne illness prevention. She is also at the forefront of current efforts to keep America’s food supply safe, especially produce.

“Dr. Harrison has literally been the trailblazer for developing effective delivery methods to improve food safety and knowledge,” wrote Michael Davidson, professor and interim head of the University of Tennessee’s department of food science and technology. “While she has used more traditional formats for conveying her message, Dr. Harrison has been truly ingenious in her use of video and computer games in disseminating information on food safety to children.”

Because children have a high risk of contracting food-borne illnesses, Harrison made it her mission to educate children, parents, caregivers and more than 400 Georgia School Nutrition Program foodservice workers on proper food handling and storage techniques. She developed a K-3 food-safety school curriculum and food-safety educational materials such as Smart Kids Fight BAC!®, a collection of animated food-safety videos and computer games for children; He’s BAC!, a rhyming storybook about food safety; a Bac-lopedia and a Bac-itonary; and Smart Caregivers Fight BAC!® The Food Safety and Inspection Service - U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety Mobile has used these award-winning educational materials to teach more than 6,500 elementary school students in 27 states.

The extension agents Harrison has trained have worked with more than 3,500 childcare providers to ensure compliance with state licensing requirements. Post-training surveys indicate that 88 percent of caregivers who attended training sessions improved their overall knowledge of safe food handling techniques and more than 96 percent improved their food-handling behaviors.

Harrison has helped create food-safety educational materials for produce industry workers and first responders to food and agricultural emergencies. She has co-edited the Georgia Agrosecurity Awareness Training Curriculum for the Georgia Committee on Agriculture and Food Defense and has helped to develop a computer course for training first responders. Extension agents have used her curriculum to train more than 2,400 law enforcement officials and emergency workers in Georgia. Her work with researchers has helped determine contamination risk in produce facilities and develop educational materials for training produce industry workers and consumers about safe handling of produce.

She has won top awards for her work, including the 2004 Walter Barnard Hill Award for Distinguished Achievement in Public Service and Outreach and the 2007 Tenth Anniversary BAC Fighters Award from The Partnership for Food Safety Education - one of only two such awards given.