Every weekend before I go grocery shopping, I clean out the refrigerator and experience guilt.

Partially full yogurt containers past their expiration date. Shriveling squash. Browning celery. Leftovers I saved with good intentions but never ate. (Photo by Kevin Hudson)

I may not be very interested in football, but I love food. So for me, Superbowl parties are all about the snacks! (Photo credit: Karen Blakeslee/Kansas State University Research & Extension)

RAYMOND, Miss. -- Electric pressure cookers can help home chefs get meals on the table in just minutes, but food science experts said preserving fruits and vegetables in these appliances can be risky.

BILOXI, Miss. -- Farmers market vendors and cottage food industry owners are invited to expand their knowledge at a Feb. 24 workshop covering food safety basics and regulations for processing acidified foods in Mississippi.

JACKSON, Miss. -- The Alliance for Sustainable Agricultural Production will hold its November field day in conjunction with the 2016 Mississippi Food Summit and Agricultural Revival.

The revival is set for Nov. 17 and 18 at the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum. Participants may also attend Jackson-area farm and garden tours on Nov. 19.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- A recipe for cinnamon rolls that she found in college turned into a profitable hobby business and now a cottage industry for Christa Lee and her husband, Tyson.

Their business, LoveLee Rolls, sells pans of baked cinnamon rolls at the Starkville farmers market all summer and by word of mouth the rest of the year.

“We started in July 2014. I was staying home with the baby, and we didn’t really need more money -- just thought it would be a fun hobby,” Christa Lee said. “On the way home from the beach one day, we said, let’s just do it.”

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- A food safety specialist with industry and public service experience recently joined the Mississippi State University Extension Service.

Courtney Crist began work as an assistant Extension professor Aug. 16 in the MSU Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion.

RAYMOND, Miss. -- Food safety professionals who work for meat, poultry and other food processors can earn certification mandated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service during an upcoming workshop.

Experts with the USDA, Mississippi State University Extension Service, and MSU Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion will teach participants how to comply with Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point, or HACCP, regulations.

BILOXI, Miss. -- The Mississippi State University Extension Service is offering a three-day food safety course for food industry personnel.

This course, developed by the Food Safety Preventative Controls Alliance (FSPCA) in collaboration with the Food and Drug Administration, will be May 23-24 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and May 25 from 8 a.m. to noon. The Coastal Research and Extension Center will host the event at 1815 Popps Ferry Road in Biloxi.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Researchers at the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine pioneered a technique that can help advance the study of one of the deadliest foodborne bacteria in the United States.

Listeria monocytogenes, the bacterium that causes listeriosis, ranks No. 3 among the top five domestically acquired foodborne pathogens that cause death, according to 2011 estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- New research techniques learned at Mississippi State University through a scholar exchange program will help a cattle veterinarian from Egypt as she pursues a doctoral education in food safety.

HERNANDO, Miss. -- Food safety training courses on March 30 will help make participating in certified farmers markets a little easier for processed food vendors, cottage food operators, and fruit and vegetable producers.

General Food Safety Training and Acidified Canned Foods Training will teach vendors about specific requirements and procedures for selling their products at certified farmers markets in Mississippi. The Mississippi State University Extension Service will host the seminars at the Hernando Gale Center.  

BILOXI, Miss. -- Food safety professionals can earn the necessary certification to meet new provisions in the Food Safety Modernization Act next month during a three-day course on the Gulf Coast.

The Mississippi State University Extension Service is hosting a Food Safety Preventative Controls Alliance course March 22-24 in collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

BILOXI, Miss. -- Food safety professionals can earn the necessary certification to meet new provisions in the Food Safety Modernization Act next month during a three-day course on the Gulf Coast.

The Mississippi State University Extension Service is hosting a Food Safety Preventative Controls Alliance course March 22-24 in collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The thrill may be in the hunt, but unless the game is kept clean and processed well, the meat won’t bring pleasure to the palate.

Mississippi has a rich diversity of game animals for hunters to bag. As a result, many freezers across the state are full of venison, turkey, duck, squirrel and more, and recipes for how to prepare them are often are passed down through families.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Two Mississippi State University Extension Service professionals were recently honored by the National Extension Association for Family and Consumer Sciences for their work in the early childhood field.

Jenna Schilling, Extension associate, and Natasha Haynes, Extension agent in family and consumer sciences, won the national Early Childhood Child Care Training Award for the TummySafe program, a food certification course for child care providers.

RAYMOND -- Members of the produce industry have two opportunities to evaluate and comment on revisions to proposed changes to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration food safety law.

Experts with Mississippi State University’s Extension Service and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station will help participants understand the revisions to the Food Safety Modernization Act during two separate workshops.

The act introduces new rules to help prevent contamination of fresh fruits and vegetables during growing, harvesting, packing and holding.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- In Mississippi, more than 200,000 deer are harvested each year, providing families with a source of free-range meat. However, hunters must exercise care when processing deer to ensure good-tasting, high quality, safe meat products.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Many children get sick when the school year starts up, and germs may be lurking in an unexpected place: the lunch box.

Natasha Haynes, a family and consumer sciences agent for the Mississippi State University Extension Service in Rankin County, said lunch boxes and bags can harbor bacteria.

“Kids don’t always wash their hands before handling their lunch boxes and food,” Haynes said. “Since most lunches include finger foods, it’s easy to see how germs and bacteria can make kids sick.”