Welcome to the Food Safety for Home Child Care Providers Web site!

This Web site has been developed for home child care providers, parents and guardians, educators, and anyone who wants information on how to prevent foodborne illness. An estimated 76 million cases of foodborne illness occur in the United States each year.

The site is an adaptation of a comprehensive curriculum created by New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service. The curriculum features a cartoon character named BAC, who represents bad bacteria that can be found in foods.

Why is food safety important in child care settings?

• Most children under the age of six receive some form of non-parental care.
• Young children are especially susceptible to foodborne illnesses because their immune systems aren't fully developed. Such illnesses can cause serious side effects, even death.
• Illness originally caused by foodborne bacteria is easily spread by diapered children who have diarrhea.

For home child care providers:

Click on the topic buttons at the left to work through brief food safety lessons specific to home child care settings. If you are a registered home child care provider in New Mexico, once you complete all five brief lessons, you can obtain two hours of continuing education credit.

For educators:

You will find everything you need to teach a food safety workshop to home child care providers in the educators section.

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