* Each year in the United States,...

* Each year in the United States, approximately 7 million cases of food-borne illness result from consumers mishandling food after purchase. “A Quick Consumer Guide to Safe Food Handling” is a useful USDA brochure on the do’s and don’ts of safe food handling, with an emphasis on meat and poultry products. There’s even a cold storage chart telling how long a good variety of perishable foods will last at freezer and refrigerator temperatures. (No, you can’t freeze fresh eggs in the shell.) For a free copy write: Consumer Information Center, 574-X, Pueblo, Colo. 81009.

* If your garlic recipe is up to snuff, you might consider entering it in the Great Garlic Recipe contest, sponsored by the Gilroy Garlic Festival, which will be held July 26, 27 and 28. Deadline for entries is June 25. The cook-off will be held July 27 at noon during the festival. Recipes should be typed or printed on 8 1/2x11-inch paper and sent to: Recipe Contest 1991, Gilroy Garlic Festival, P.O. Box 2311, Gilroy, Calif. 95020. Amateur cooks may submit as many original recipes as desired, but each recipe must contain at least three cloves of fresh garlic or its equivalent in processed garlic. Last year’s winner, caramelized garlic filo focaccia, contained 12 cloves of fresh garlic. The $1,000 first prize is nothing to turn your nose up at.

* So you use ricotta in lasagna, but did you know it is also great in cheesecake? Italians use ricotta in cheesecake while the more familiar New York-style cheesecake is made with cream cheese. Now ricotta is attracting attention because it is significantly lower in fat than cream cheese (ricotta has 162 fewer calories and 20 grams less fat per serving). “Cheesecake: Sweet & Savory” is a new recipe booklet featuring nine tasty cheesecake recipes featuring Sargento Natural Light Ricotta cheese. For a free copy of the booklet write: Sargento Cheese Co., P.O. Box 350, Plymouth, Wis. 53073.

* The National Kraut Packers Assn. has come out with a recipe brochure to entice you into buying sauerkraut. There are other ways to use sauerkraut besides on a hot dog. The booklet contains such delectable dishes as grilled Alsatian loin of pork, best ever barbecue sauce (the secret is a half cup of sauerkraut juice), and kraut-pineapple relish as well as a bit of kraut history. Did you know that the Chinese kept healthy by eating cabbage preserved in wine while they were building the Great Wall? Or that sauerkraut is a good source of Vitamin C and contains only 44 calories per cup? For a copy send a stamped, self-addressed, business-size envelope to “Sauerkraut Brochure N,” National Kraut Packers Assn., P.O. Box 290, Holmdel, N.J. 07733.