Pick up know-how for tackling diseases, pests and weeds.
Farm bill, farm marketing, agribusiness webinars, & farm policy.
Find tactics for healthy livestock and sound forages.
Scheduling and methods of irrigation.
Explore our Extension locations around the state.
Commercial row crop production in Arkansas.
Agriculture weed management resources.
Use virtual and real tools to improve critical calculations for farms and ranches.
Learn to ID forages and more.
Explore our research locations around the state.
Get the latest research results from our county agents.
Our programs include aquaculture, diagnostics, and energy conservation.
Keep our food, fiber and fuel supplies safe from disaster.
Private, Commercial & Non-commercial training and education.
Specialty crops including turfgrass, vegetables, fruits, and ornamentals.
Find educational resources and get youth engaged in agriculture.
Gaining garden smarts and sharing skills.
Creating beauty in and around the home.
Maintenance calendar, and best practices.
Coaxing the best produce from asparagus to zucchini.
What’s wrong with my plants? The clinic can help.
Featured trees, vines, shrubs and flowers.
Ask our experts plant, animal, or insect questions.
Enjoying the sweet fruits of your labor.
Herbs, native plants, & reference desk QA.
Growing together from youth to maturity.
Crapemyrtles, hydrangeas, hort glossary, and weed ID databases.
Get beekeeping, honey production, and class information.
Grow a pollinator-friendly garden.
Schedule these timely events on your gardening calendar.
Equipping individuals to lead organizations, communities, and regions.
Guiding communities and regions toward vibrant and sustainable futures.
Guiding entrepreneurs from concept to profit.
Position your business to compete for government contracts.
Find trends, opportunities and impacts.
Providing unbiased information to enable educated votes on critical issues.
Increase your knowledge of public issues & get involved.
Research-based connection to government and policy issues.
Support Arkansas local food initiatives.
Read about our efforts.
Preparing for and recovering from disasters.
Licensing for forestry and wildlife professionals.
Preserving water quality and quantity.
Cleaner air for healthier living.
Firewood & bioenergy resources.
Managing a complex forest ecosystem.
Read about nature across Arkansas and the U.S.
Learn to manage wildlife on your land.
Soil quality and its use here in Arkansas.
Learn to ID unwanted plant and animal visitors.
Timely updates from our specialists.
Eating right and staying healthy.
Ensuring safe meals.
Take charge of your well-being.
Cooking with Arkansas foods.
Making the most of your money.
Making sound choices for families and ourselves.
Nurturing our future.
Get tips for food, fitness, finance, and more!
Understanding aging and its effects.
Giving back to the community.
Managing safely when disaster strikes.
Listen to our latest episode!
Fast Facts
If you think a food or beverage has made you sick, contact your health care provider, especially if you have a high fever, prolonged vomiting or diarrheal illness for three days or more and sooner if you experience more severe symptoms. Your physician will advise you on the medical treatment you will need for recovery. The only way to know for certain if you have foodborne illness is through laboratory tests and cultures, which your health care provider must order.
As soon as possible, contact your county, city or state health department. This is particularly important if you suspect your illness may be related to food you had eaten in a restaurant, from a grocery store deli, or at a community event. When you report the illness, you help health officials identify potential foodborne disease problems, and this will help stop a disease outbreak from spreading.
When you call the health department, be prepared to answer questions, but remember, the information you give will be kept confidential. They will ask you for details on the following: all the food, snacks and beverages you have eaten within the last 72 hours; the symptoms you are experiencing; if you have seen a health care provider; where you had traveled recently; what pets you own; and what meetings you have attended recently.
Fact: Food can look, smell and taste fresh but still contain harmful microorganisms (pathogens). Microorganisms that cause food to spoil are not the same as pathogens that cause foodborne illness, but food spoilage is a warning sign that conditions may be right for pathogens to grow in food, so throw out spoiled food.
Fact: Foodborne illness can happen wherever food is prepared or served. Foodborne disease outbreaks have been linked to food that has been mishandled in restaurants, home kitchens, picnics, barbecues, cafeterias, and church kitchens. Learn how to handle food safely and be willing to make changes in what you do to help prevent foodborne illness.
Fact: Most often, illness occurs within one to three days after eating the contaminated food, but sometimes it happens within 20 minutes or as long as six weeks. Therefore, it is difficult to determine which food actually caused the illness. You will have eaten a wide range of food, and any of those foods could have been the cause.
Fact: Foodborne illness can produce a wide range of symptoms, depending on the particular pathogen causing the illness and on the general state of health of the individual infected. Symptoms are often flu like and include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fatigue. Often, foodborne illness is not life threatening, and symptoms will subside within one to three days. Sometimes, symptoms can be serious and can include bloody diarrhea, fever, blurred vision, confusion, chest pain, jaundice (yellowing of skin and eyes), seizures, paralysis, and death.
Fact: Some groups of people are at high risk of long term complications and death from foodborne illness. In addition to infants and young children, this includes older adults, pregnant women and people with chronic illnesses (for example, diabetes, cancer and HIV/AIDS), because of weakened immune systems that cannot fight off pathogens.
Fact: People can spread foodborne illness caused by some pathogens, such as Hepatitis A, a serious form of foodborne illness that affects the liver. Hepatitis A, like some other pathogens, is shed from the body of an infected person through the stool. This pathogen is then spread by a type of transmission known as “fecal-oral transmission.” In this case, the pathogen is spread by putting something in the mouth that has been contaminated with the stool of a person infected with Hepatitis A. This usually involves unclean hands, which is why proper hand washing is critical to controlling the spread of Hepatitis A, as well as other forms of foodborne illness.
Fact: This is not true for some people. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommends that people at high risk for developing foodborne illness not eat the following foods: raw or undercooked meat, poultry or seafood (sushi or ceviche); refrigerated smoked fish; precooked seafood (shrimp, crab); unpasteurized milk; foods containing raw or undercooked eggs (Caesar salad dressing, cookie dough, homemade eggnog); unwashed fresh vegetables; soft cheeses (Camembert, Brie, Feta, Queso Fresco); hot dogs and deli meats that have not been reheated; and unpasteurized, refrigerated pâtés or meat spreads.
Fact: Pathogens that cause foodborne illness can seriously harm the mother and unborn child, because they can cross the placenta. The infected unborn child can experience a wide range of health problems, even death. Pregnant women need to know the risks and learn how to handle food safely.