Maple Leaf Foods and the Canadian Public Health Association have joined forces to develop a national food safety education campaign which will target those most at risk of contracting foodborne illness and their care givers.

The campaign, which will be primarily internet based, is intended to help people to understand the basics of food safety and its importance.

Maple Leaf Foods vice-president of commutations Jeanette Jones says the campaign is expected to launch in the fall of this year.

Jeanette Jones-Maple Leaf Foods

It's estimated that up to about 13 million Canadians are affected by foodborne illness every year.

That's an estimate only but there are groups that are at higher risk.

They are the elderly, pregnant women and people who are undergoing treatments who have immune compromised systems such as cancer treatments.

They are at high risk for foodborne illness so we want to make sure that those groups are targeted through this initiative.

The key messages are all about the various types of foodborne illness that exist, what are the facts, foods to avoid, how to prepare food properly to alleviate those risks.

Again it's targeted at pregnant women and elderly people.

That's typically people who are 60 and beyond and I realize that doesn't seem old for a lot of people but again it just goes back to where our immune systems are as we get older, then as well as the immunocompromised people who are undergoing treatments such as cancer.

Ms Jones is confident all Canadian will benefit from the initiative, particularly those in the higher risk groups, because they'll have a better understanding of what they need to be mindful of when purchasing and preparing food.