Company seeks to reduce foodborne illnesses and deaths by informing consumers early about major food recalls and safety alerts
BellTower Technologies LLC today announced the launch of FoodAlert.org, the nation's first free high-speed telephone food safety alert notification service for American consumers and their families. The Dallas, Texas-based leader in high-speed food safety and emergency notification technology for the food industry has taken the unprecedented step of offering American families free access to its proprietary high-speed telephone notification technology.
'Each year, there are about 5,000 deaths in the U.S. from foodborne illnesses. If FoodAlert.org helps save even one life, we will consider the project a success,' said Tim Klein, a founding partner of BellTower Technologies LLC. 'Consumers typically hear about major food safety alerts through the news media, sometimes days or weeks after they are announced. We think that's too slow! FoodAlert.org can notify subscribers by telephone within HOURS - not days. Our subscribers will be some of the first to know so any dangerous food can be removed quickly before it is served to their families.'
FoodAlert.org's web site offers consumers free, secure registration of one domestic telephone number of the consumer's choice to receive a recorded message for select food safety alerts within hours of their communication by US government regulatory agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), among others. For consumers without web access or who prefer registration offline, FoodAlert.org has also established toll-free telephone registration at 1 (888) FOODALERT providing the same free FoodAlert.org registration by telephone.
FoodAlert.org's high-speed telephone notification approach, powered by BellTower Technologies' proprietary Instant Recall technology platform, is designed to reduce the current time gap of days or weeks for consumer awareness and preventive action - to just hours or same day removal of tainted food product from their family's table.
"Safe Tables Our Priority (S.T.O.P.) has a long history of providing up-to-date food recall information to consumers. We applaud BellTower Technologies for reaching out to consumers through their innovative food alert system. We know from our work with victims of foodborne disease that timely information about contaminated food in the marketplace can protect public health and save lives," said Donna Rosenbaum, Executive Director of Safe Tables Our Priority.
The CDC states that an estimated 76 million cases of foodborne illness occur in the United States each year. Of those, the more serious cases result in an estimated 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths each year related to foodborne illnesses. Foodborne illnesses are largely preventable, but the total solution is complex. FoodAlert.org seeks to fulfill a critical component of the solution - greater consumer awareness.
'Over the past few years, we've seen an increase in the number and severity of major food safety alerts. One well-known example was the suspected Salmonella contamination of tomatoes earlier this year,' Klein added. 'With FoodAlert.org, we intend to help our subscribers reduce their exposure to foodborne danger through the same high-speed technology that powers our Instant Recall commercial application for the food industry. We urge every American family to take advantage of this free service to help protect their families' food safety.'
FoodAlert.org is consumer food safety in action. FoodAlert.org's web site offers unprecedented free access to a market-leading high-speed telephone notification service that is reliable and easy to use, and provides timely notification of select food recall and safety alerts for American consumers and their families.
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