• Food Safety

Sandy McCurdy's work emphasizes consumer and food service worker food safety for the citizens of Idaho; her appointment is 25% research/75% extension.  Sandy works closely with the Family and Consumer Sciences county faculty (Extension Educators) across Idaho to develop and deliver food safety programs.  She also collaborates with other agencies in Idaho (Food Protection Program, Idaho Beef Council) and with colleagues across the country to develop new programs and research in food safety.

• McCurdy, S.M., Peutz, J., and Wittman, G. 2009. Storing Food for Safety and Quality, UI-OSU-WSU Extension Bulletin PNW 612, September.
• McCurdy, S.M., Finley, K., and Zemmer, T. 2009. Label instructions and cooking times for retail frozen ground beef patties. Food Protection Trends 29(6):335-341.
• Winter, C.K., Fraser, A.M., Gleason, J.B., Hovey, S.K., McCurdy, S.M. and Snider, O.S. 2009. Food safety education using music parodies. J Food Sci Educ 8:62-67.
• McCurdy, S.M., Schmiege, C., Winter, C.K. 2008. Incorporation of music in a food service food safety curriculum for high school students. Food Protection Trends 28(2):107-114.
• McCurdy S.M., Takeuchi M.T., Edwards Z., Edlefsen, M., Kang, D-H, Mayes, V.E., Hillers V.N. 2006. Food safety education initiative to increase consumer use of food thermometers in the United States. Brit Food J. 108:775-794.

• 160°F For Your Family campaign delivers the message of using a thermometer to assure safely cooked burgers in ID grocery stores and in WA WIC offices, NIFSI funding, 10/2007 to 10/2011, http://www.agls.uidaho.edu/thermometers/
• Assessment of Cooking Instructions on Labels of Frozen Ground Beef/Hamburger Patties: When Followed by Consumers, Do They Result in Safely Cooked Patties?, MarlerClark funding, 10/2006 to 10/2008.
• Now You’re Cooking …Using a Food Thermometer, educates and motivates consumers about the use of food thermometers when cooking ground meat items, NIFSI funding, 9/2001 to 9/2005, http://www.agls.uidaho.edu/therm/

• Germ City Clean Hands, Healthy People, promotes education and behavior change regarding hand hygiene for youth and families in Idaho, http://www.agls.uidaho.edu/germcity/
• Ready, Set, Food Safe delivers food service food safety information and state of Idaho food worker certification to high school students.
• Master Food Preserver/Food Safety Advisor, educates volunteers to deliver accurate food preservation information to consumers.

• NEAFCS (National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences) National Food Safety Award, Interactive Food Safety Exhibits for Consumer Venues, Team of S.M. McCurdy, S. Johnson, C. Hampton, J. Peutz, L. Sant, and G. Wittman, 2009.
• Western Cooperative Extension Directors’ Award of Excellence for Multi-State programs. Germ City: Clean Hands, Healthy People team of B. Susie Craig (Washington), Guen Brown (West Virginia), Sandra McCurdy (Idaho), Lynn Nakamura-Tengan (Hawaii), Donnie L. Cook (Alabama), and Allison Nichols (West Virginia), 2006.
• NEAFCS (National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences) Excellence in Research Award, Florence Hall Award, The Germ City Handwashing Program: Clean Hands, Healthy People, Team of B. Susie Craig, Guen Brown, Sandra McCurdy, Lynn Nakamura-Tengan, Donnie L. Cook, and Allison Nichols, 2005.
• Team Excellence Award, Thermometer Project Team, College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences, Washington State University, 2005.