WASHINGTON – A new consumer Web site was unveiled Sept. 9 at www.foodsafety.gov by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, co-chairs of the Obama Administration's Food Safety Working Group. The site is designed to help consumers and families get the most current information on food safety and food recalls in one convenient place.

Information from all agencies in the federal government dealing with critical food and food-safety information, including preventive tips about how to handle food safely, alerts on life-saving food recalls, as well as the latest news from the key agencies, is featured on the new site.

The site also provides consumers with one place to sign up to receive e-mail and RSS alerts on recalled or potentially unsafe food, as well as get information from the top scientific experts throughout the government on food safety.

Later phases of the site to be launched will include recall feeds for texting and mobile phones. The site will also feature a foodsafety.gov widget that the public and the media are encouraged to download and promote on their Web sites and social networking sites. The widget will instantly update viewers with the latest food-safety recalls.