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Officials encourage all Midland area restaurant owners and food service workers to attend this informational food safety session.

Food safety, a growing concern among consumers and the food industry amid media reports of beef recalls and people contracting Salmonella, MRSA, Hepatitis A, and E. Coli, among other illnesses, will be addressed during a seminar led by the Midland County Department of Public Health and other agencies.

The presentation, scheduled for Monday, March 31, at 6 p.m. at the Dow Corning Corporation, will focus on topics such as food code changes, food safe schools, the impact of communicable disease on food services and other issues. Consumers and food service workers should be aware that just because someone gets ill immediately after dining out, the food they just consumed is not necessarily the cause. Robert Dullock of the Midland County Department of Public Health calls this rush to judgment "last meal bias."

"Understanding that when someone gets ill immediately after eating out, the illness may not necessarily be the result of the food you just consumed is mind boggling to some," Dullock says. "Although it's true that some food related illnesses have an immediate impact after consumption, most illnesses are not food related at all. It's a matter of educating consumers and food service workers so they understand illness."

In addition to officials from the Midland County Department of Public Health, representatives from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Michigan Department of Community Health will be featured presenters at the seminar. Officials encourage all Midland area restaurant owners and food service workers to attend this informational session.

Registration is requireb by calling (989) 832-6682. For additional information on food safety contact the County's Department of Public Health, Environmental Health Division at (989) 832-6679.