Cornell University's Food Industry Management Distance Education Program has announced a new computer-based training program for retail food store managers and associates. The CD-ROM program, which explores the topic "Personal Hygiene," is the first of four programs planned on fundamental topics in food safety and sanitation.

Recent highly publicized foodborne-illness outbreaks have raised consumer and food industry concern about the safety of our food supply. Fast-paced lifestyles have increased consumer interest in the fresh and prepared ready-to-eat foods offered by many supermarkets. Considering that food protection practices build consumer confidence in the safety of the foods they purchase, then good personal hygiene is where food safety begins. The "Personal Hygiene" computer-based-training (CBT) program offers a high degree of interactivity combined with audio, video, text, animation and graphics to create and maintain interest and enhance the learning experience. This CBT technology offers a self-paced learning environment, consisting of training, reduced per-employee training costs, and flexibility in terms of training time and location.

The program is presented in two sections. The first describes why personal hygiene is critical to food safety and the second describes how to practice good personal hygiene. Video clips of consumers relating their own supermarket experiences and impressions with regard to personal hygiene of food store associates is included in the "why" section. A major feature of the "how" section is a step-by-step video guide to the single and double hand-washing methods, with explanations of when to use each method.

A testing module measures learner comprehension and can be used for pre-testing, post-testing, or both. The "Personal Hygiene" CBT also features a tracking option which records who has completed the program, their test scores, and who has begun but not yet completed the program.

For further information regarding the "Personal Hygiene" CBT program or to order copies of the program, please call (607) 255-3028 or fax (607) 254-5122. The e-mail address is: . The postal address is Distance Education Program, 247 Warren Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.