MANHATTAN, Kan. – E. coli in the spinach. Salmonella in the peanut butter. Listeria in the hot dogs.

Seven major food recalls since July.

The Food Safety Network, which has a new home at Kansas State University, is dedicated to stopping the epidemic of food contamination that sickens 76 million people – one out of every four Americans – and kills 5,000 each year.

The network combines public awareness with an Internet-based information service and research projects in an effort to educate growers, consumers and workers.

Microbiologist Doug Powell started the organization more than a decade ago at the University of Guelph in Canada.

Now an associate professor of food safety in Kansas State’s College of Veterinary Medicine, Powell is outspoken on good farming practices and good worker hygiene and blunt about what needs to be done.

“It boils down to three words,” he said. “Don’t eat poop.”

Microbial contamination – such as E. coli or salmonella – is not visible, and has no taste and no smell. It can come from any number of sources along a chain of growing, harvesting, processing, packaging and selling.

“Most people just open the package and stick it the microwave for a couple of minutes,” Powell said. “If it’s steaming, it’s done.

“The only way to be sure of the internal temperature of food is to measure it with a thermometer. But how often do people really do that? And even if they do use a thermometer, do they know the right way to insert it to get an accurate reading?”

A two-year effort, funded by a grant from the American Meat Institute, will study consumer behavior using uncooked, frozen, breaded poultry products. However, the knowledge gained will be relevant to all types of food processors, said Randy Phebus, a food microbologist and professor of food safety who is Powell’s partner on the project.

“We will bring people into a test kitchen, hand them the products and tell them to cook it like they would at home,” Powell said. “We’ll have a video camera in the room to document what they do for later study.”

Public education is another of the Food Safety Network’s goals. The organization’s Web site at Kansas State can be found at www.foodsafety.ksu.edu .

(http://www.foodsafety.ksu.edu). The network also has a sister site, www.donteatpoop.com (http://www.donteatpoop.com).

The network sells T-shirts that say “Don’t Eat Poop” on the front and “Wash Your Hands, Food Safety Network” on the back.

It also has printed and distributed fliers to restaurants, using catchy art and humor to reinforce the simple message of “Wash Your Hands,” and has put videos on popular entertainment sites, including YouTube and MySpace.

The idea, Powell said, is to make people think and ask about safe food.

The network also provides listserve memberships for students, producers, researchers and media, sending out food safety articles gleaned from the Internet, newspapers and magazines.

“What needs to happen is that people need to stop the pretty talk about “natural, locally grown, fresh, organic produce’ and get serious about microbes,” Powell said.

“Forget about wholesome whatever and farm sunshine. What we need is bacteria-free produce.”

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(c) 2007, The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kan.).

Visit the Eagle on the World Wide Web at http://www.wichitaeagle.com/

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

AP-NY-03-17-07 1610EDT