A New Recipe for Food Safety at Home

Promoting and Advancing Petroleum Marketing, Retail Grocery, and Convenience Stores in West Virginia

Driving Local Business and Community Growth Across West Virginia

Our Purpose and Commitment

OMEGA is a West Virginia-based organization dedicated to supporting and advancing the business interests of the state’s petroleum marketing, retail grocery, and convenience store industries.

As a network of over 225 locally owned businesses, OMEGA actively promotes cooperation, advocates for favorable legislation, and provides education and resources to its members. With over 50,000 employees, OMEGA members significantly contribute to the state’s economy, generating more than 10% of all state taxes and supporting local communities through scholarships, charitable donations, and civic involvement.

OMEGA is committed to fostering industry growth while serving West Virginians with essential services like fuel, food, and convenience.

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Your Essential Connection in West Virginia

OMEGA offers three types of membership: Convenience Store Members, Petroleum Marketer Members, and Grocer Members, all of which play a vital role in providing fuel, food, and essentials across West Virginia. As a liaison with state and national agencies, OMEGA works closely with organizations like NACS, PMAA, FMI, and the N.G.A. to advocate on behalf of its members.

We keep members informed through newsletters, legislative updates, an online resource hub, and educational seminars. Additional member benefits include access to the Encova Workers’ Compensation Discount Program and participation in our annual Trade Expo and fundraising efforts for children’s charities. OMEGA is here to support, advocate, and enhance the success of our industry members.

The FMI Foundation and Partnership for Food Safety Education (PFSE) released the Safe Recipe Style Guide, to help standardize food safety recipe instructions. These instructions can help raise public awareness for proper handwashing procedures, temperature controls, prevention of cross contamination and safe produce handling.

By: Adam Friedlander, Specialist, Food Safety and Technical Services, Food Marketing Institute <img src="https://www.fmi.org/images/default-source/blog-images/pfseconference.tmb-large-350-.png?sfvrsn=41224a6e_1" data-displaymode="Thumbnail" alt="mg-caption: Left to right: Ashley Eisenbeiser (FMI); Adam Friedlander (FMI); BAC! (PFSE); Hilary Thesmar (FMI); and Sue Borra (FMI)" title="PFSEConference" style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px;" />The food retail community works hard to <a href="https://www.fmi.org/safemark">train</a> and demonstrate proper food safety practices within our stores to customers. We wear hair nets, we properly wash our hands, we use a food thermometer to ensure raw meat and poultry products are cooked to safe internal temperatures and we always clean and sanitize our work stations. In fact, <a href="https://www.fmi.org/blog/view/fmi-blog/2018/09/12/retailers-stay-within-the-circle-of-trust-with-food-safety">93 percent of shoppers trust their grocery store to ensure the food they purchase is safe</a>.  Yet, I frequently witness top-rated cooking shows or recipe books exposing poor food safety practices to their audiences. Whether a celebrity chef cross contaminates <a href="https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/cb222383-1e02-471a-8657-c205eda92acf/Observational-Study.pdf?MOD=AJPERES">every surface</a> by not washing their hands after handling raw meat, or whether a recipe tells a person to cook their poultry until a specific color is achieved (instead of a measured temperature of 165°F), they are contributing to the subliminal dissemination of poor food safety practices.  Earlier this month, I attended the <a href="https://cfsec2019.fightbac.org/">Consumer Food Safety Education Conference (CFSEC</a>) to learn how retailers can take a leadership role in influencing the trajectory of how food safety practices are portrayed on our favorite television programs, recipe books or Instagram stories.  To kick-off the conference, the FMI Foundation and Partnership for Food Safety Education (PFSE) released the <a href="https://www.saferecipeguide.org/">Safe Recipe Style Guide</a>, to help standardize food safety recipe instructions. These instructions can help raise public awareness for proper handwashing procedures, temperature controls, prevention of cross contamination and safe produce handling. The guide is based on <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27497133">research</a> published in the Journal of Food Protection, where consumers followed precise recipes that included clear and simple food safety instructions. The results showed that participants who used food safety instructions in their recipes were more likely to implement these practices when they used similar recipes at home.   To advance food safety awareness, cooking programs and recipe books must actively demonstrate and educate best practices to their audiences. Since retailers abide by strong food safety practices every day, and serve as trusted community leaders, we must begin to form stronger partnerships with influencers to help protect our customers from foodborne illness when they prepare food in their homes. By consistently sharing <a href="http://www.fightbac.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/BFS-BROCHURE_b_w.pdf">clean, cook, separate and chill</a> messages with our customers, we can build a community that helps bring food safety to mainstream culture.  Because food safety matters, from consumers to chefs, we must engage everyone in modeling proper food preparation and hand hygiene practices – together, we can create a <a href="https://www.sqfi.com/2019-conference/">safer world</a>.  For more information on how to implement food safety practices within your home recipes, visit <a href="http://www.saferecipeguide.org/">www.saferecipeguide.org</a>, or <a href="http://www.fmi.org/foodsafety">www.fmi.org/foodsafety</a>.

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Supporting West Virginia Communities

OMEGA members play a vital role in West Virginia, supporting communities through substantial tax contributions and a wide-reaching presence across the state. With over 55% of the population living in border counties, our members are dedicated to serving both local and regional needs. Beyond business, we’re proud to give back, having contributed over $3.1 million to children’s charities since 2003, reflecting our commitment to making a positive difference.