FACS
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Checking expiration dates is second nature for many consumers, a routine part of deciding what’s safe to eat. But those dates often indicate peak quality rather than actual safety, leading people to throw away perfectly good food out of caution — wasting both meals and money in the process. Between 30% and 40% of the food…
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The winter holidays are behind us, but there’s still plenty of winter ahead. Cold weather presents safety concerns for people and pets who work and play outdoors. Wind chill Wind chill is the difference between actual air temperature and how cold we feel due wind speed. Blowing wind cools our skin and bodies. The faster…
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From Thanksgiving to the first week of January, people tend to gain more weight than at any other time of the year. Holiday celebrations, social get-togethers, and an abundance of sweets and desserts cause a pile-up of calories. At the same time, holiday stress and the longer dark period of winter days make us hungrier…
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Thanksgiving has great trimmings. Family, favorite foods, fall weather, football, and a fridge full of leftovers. What more do you need? Answer: a plan for safe food preparation and handling. Every year, one in six Americans comes down with a case of foodborne illness, or food poisoning. Most experience a day or two of diarrhea…
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A recent study by University of Georgia (UGA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)researchers found significant increases in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the U.S. from 2012 to 2022, a continuation of trends noted from 1988 to 2012 and 1999 to 2016 in previous research. The highest rates of diabetes increases…
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Halloween is still a week away, but the stores are already stocked with Christmas items and many of us are thinking about gift purchases. So are merchants and credit card companies, who are anticipating $979.5 to $989 billion in holiday-related decoration and gift purchases in November and December, according to the National Retail Federation. This…
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Ventilation is important for a healthy home, and it is one of the functions of the HVAC system: Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning. This forced air system pulls air into the heating or cooling unit, changes its temperature to reach the setting of the thermostat, then blows the air to different rooms through ducts. Filters…
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Summer is the season for picnics, cookouts, and tailgating parties where food takes center stage. While we’re enjoying the fun and fellowship, we still need to prioritize food safety to keep bacteria from making anyone sick. At temperatures between 40° and 140° Fahrenheit, bacteria on food can multiply rapidly, potentially doubling every 20 minutes. As…
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Most adults need seven to nine hours of sleep each night, but a third of us fail to get enough sleep on a regular basis. A chronic lack of sleep has consequences for our daily functioning, mood, mental and physical health, as well as workplace productivity and worker and public safety. Our bodies use the…
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By Beth O’Shea Kindamo, Assistant nutrition educator and program coordinator, University of Georgia Extension and Outreach, Nutritional Sciences What is erythritol? Erythritol is a type of carbohydrate called a sugar alcohol or polyol. Sugar alcohols taste about 70 percent as sweet as typical sweeteners – like table sugar – but provide far fewer calories. This…
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