Federal 100: Kim Taylor

Kim Taylor
Director of Web Services
Agriculture Department

The work: Turning the popular “Ask Karen” Web service into a mobile application that allows the public to obtain urgent food safety information anytime, anywhere.

The impact: People nationwide can now search the more than 3,200 answers related to food safety, preparation and recalls from their handheld devices, thereby helping to reduce the nation’s 48 million incidents of food-borne illness each year.

The nuts and bolts: Taylor created “Ask Karen” to address a serious but preventable problem: the 5,000 deaths attributed to food-borne illness each year. In addition to creating a mobile app, she developed a Spanish-language version and a new “Ask FSIS” mobile app for food industry and private-sector professionals.

Read more about the 2012 Federal 100 award winners.