The National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences has honored a North Dakota State University Extension Service specialist for one of her newspaper columns.

The association selected Extension food and nutrition specialist Julie Garden-Robinson’s Prairie Fare column titled “Don’t Fall Prey to the 5-Second Rule” as both a central region and national winner in the written press releases category of the 2008 awards program.

Garden-Robinson’s column discussed the health dangers of following the “five-second rule,” which says you have a few seconds to pluck food from the floor before it becomes contaminated.

The column noted that cross-contamination, or the transfer of harmful bacteria from surfaces to food or from one food to another, is one of the leading causes of foodborne illness in the U.S. Garden-Robinson also provided tips on how to prevent cross-contamination.

“I was very honored to receive this recognition for my writing,” she says. “Since my kindergarten-age daughter inspired the column with her comments, a copy of the award certificate will go in her scrapbook.”

Garden-Robinson received the award at the association’s Galaxy III conference in Indianapolis, Ind., in September.

To read the column, go to http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pf/5-second.

NDSU Agriculture Communication