For many people, the most accurate record of their lives is Facebook. Pictures of their kids, significant events in their lives, or simply how they are feeling. With over one billion users, that means Facebook is the de facto memory of our online lives.
That has considerable implications, especially as it being a record of activities that are questionable, offensive and even illegal. Beyond the personal sphere, Facebook Pages are considered business records. And Facebook Messages, if they are business communications, are also business records.
Thus, using Facebook (and other social media) requires the same obligations and retention policies as any other business record. You want to keep accurate records of who said what, when for litigation protection, compliance, and corporate memory needs.
Relying on Facebook itself, is fraught with issues. They have no obligation to retain your content; FACEBOOK IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACTIONS, CONTENT, INFORMATION, OR DATA OF THIRD PARTIES. And, once posted, you've lost control of "your" content as their terms of service provide such broad control to them, Facebook can do as they wish; "you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License)".
While Facebook does allow you to download your information, there's no guarantee of accuracy or authentication involved. This download won't satisfy Federal Rules of Evidence (Rule 901) if you want the archive to have legal standing, or compliance rules for FINRA, SEC, Open Records Laws, etc.
Specifically, Facebook compliance refers to the rules and regulations governing financial firms and advisors in regards to social media. In the US, FINRA has created specific guidelines (Regulatory Notice 10-06 and Regulatory Notice 11-39) for social media. If any Facebook communication is a business communication, it IS a business record and needs to be archived for three years. While any particular post, depending on its content and intent, can be debated if it is a "business record", you don't want to have to scramble to prepare for an audit, or have an audit show missing records.
Anticipate audits and have proper social media policies and procedures in place BEFOREHAND. A simple, easy-to-follow social media policy should be in place, taught to all employees, and monitored on an ongoing basis. And, a proper archiving system that automatically handles the record-keeping aspect needs to be implemented as well.
For government agencies, Facebook archiving is necessary to comply with State Open Records Laws or FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests. In general, States already have laws that pertain to Facebook archiving. Some States already have laws specifically written about social media retention, but, if not, laws about Open Records apply. While the medium is new, the intent remains the same; the public has a right to know.
For other organizations, Facebook archiving is a smart risk mitigation strategy. More and more interactions with the public and with employees are happening on Facebook. HR might have to deal with situations of online harassment. Marketing might want to keep proper track of all their posts, in case someone tries to falsify claims. For public companies, investor relations should keep track of any news and announcements to demonstrate to the SEC what they have published.
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Freezer burn is a quality issue, not a safety issue. It occurs when the surface of food dehydrates due to exposure to the air, usually because of packaging issues. Freezer-burned food does not cause foodborne illness.
Most food lasts longer than we might think, but not forever. Unfortunately, confusion about what dates mean can cause people to throw away food unnecessarily. A date on a package may prompt them to throw away the product on that date, even if the food is safe to eat.
Keep in mind that product dates are not an exact science. The storage length of food depends on many factors, including packaging and storage conditions such as temperature. Be sure to maintain your refrigerator at 40 F and your freezer at 0 F, as checked with appliance thermometers.
Keep in mind that bacteria can grow at refrigerator temperatures. Freezing food such as meat does not kill bacteria, but it stops bacteria from growing. If thawed improperly, bacteria can grow quickly.
According to the USDA, ground beef can be stored in your refrigerator for up to two days for quality and safety reasons. If you cannot use fresh meat within a reasonable time, freeze it for longer-term storage.
Canned vegetables, by the way, last up to five years on your shelf and canned fruit lasts up to 18 months, according to the USDA. Be sure to label the cans with the purchase date and arrange them in a first-in, first-out order on your shelves.
Brown meat with onion in pot. Drain fat. Season with salt and pepper if desired. Add soup and one can of water. Add vegetables. Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered, about 25 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Remove from heat. Cover for last 10 minutes to thicken.Makes four servings. Each serving has 280 calories, 10 grams (g) fat, 15 g protein, 36 g carbohydrate, 5 g fiber and 470 milligrams sodium.
(Julie Garden-Robinson, Ph.D., R.D., L.R.D., is a North Dakota State University Extension food and nutrition specialist and professor in the Department of Health, Nutrition and Exercise Sciences. Follow her on Twitter @jgardenrobinson)
Examples of food items that would likely make a successful transition from freezer to home canned jars include apples (for applesauce or butter) berries (including blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc), carrots, cherries, corn, fish, greens, juices, meats, mushrooms, rhubarb, peas, stocks and broths.
For that matter, most frozen then thawed vegetables including carrots, cauliflower, peppers, etc will likely be too soft quality-wise for use as pickled items. A sample exception would be corn kernels (for corn relish.)
Be sure to properly prepare all fruit and veg first as you would normally for freezing: wash, peel, blanch if required by the freezing recommendations. (Note: for fruit such as berries, a dry-pack freeze is best for canning later.) If you are unsure of proper freezing techniques, visit the freezing section at the National Center for Home Food Preservation.
You can thaw and can meat that was previously frozen. In fact, some people even use their freezer as a temporary holding strategy, to hold a particular kind of meat until they accumulate enough of it to justify doing a canning run.
Tip: It may be best (and quickest, to boot) to dry pack your fruit unsweetened for maximum flexibility when you go to use it for canning recipes. See: Unsweetened Packs for Freezing Fruits over at the NCHFP site.
When you thaw the fruit, do save all juices that come off during thaw for use as part of any liquid called for by the canning recipe. If the recipe does not call for any added liquid, add the juice in anyway.
On a slightly related topic, should you choose to freeze anything in jars, bear in mind that the experts recommend straight-sided jars for freezing; shouldered jars are prone to blowing up in the freezer.
It was, though, reheated in batches to piping hot before going into the jars, to replicate the hot temperature that the writers of the canning recommendations were expecting, and then pressure-canned as per usual USDA directions.
Do you have to blanched green beans for the freezer if you know you will be canning into jars within a couple of weeks. Could that possible help with the texture of the green bean not to be overly soft after being canned?
Frozen tomatoes in salsa: no safety concerns, only quality issues. Normally people seem to use frozen tomatoes for sauces, as much texture will be lost. They might be okay in a salsa which is meant to be very runny. They might be disappointing if your preference were for a coarser chop of tomato in a salsa. Here are National Center directions for freezing tomatoes:
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