Welcome to Your Game Plan for Food Safety

Foodborne Illness is Serious!

More and more, foodborne illness is in the news. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, foodborne illnesses in the United States affect millions of people and cause thousands of deaths every year. An estimated 800,000 illnesses occur in children under the age of 10.

Teaching Food Safety Is Important...

The good news is that there are many things children and families can do to help ensure that their food is safe to eat-at home, at school and even when eating out. All they need is a basic awareness of proper food handling, cleanliness practices, and the importance of temperature in controlling/killing bacteria. And as an educator, you play a big role in helping to "spread the word—not the germs!" That's where Your Game Plan for Food Safety fits in. As part of the Partnership for Food Safety Education's nationwide Fight BACTMCampaign, this program is specially designed for use with 4th, 5th and 6th graders.

...And It's Easy!

Your Game Plan for Food Safety helps you teach food safety in a way that is both easy and exciting. Using the inquiry approach to learn-ing, the program inspires children to discover the science behind food safety as they experiment... investigate... and explore.

Let's Get Started!

Proper Patties

Outcome:

For hamburger to be safe to eat, it must be cooked to an internal temperature of 160°F/71°C. This is the only way to make sure that all harmful bacteria that might be present have been killed. The color of the meat is not a reliable indicator that the meat has reached a temperature high enough to destroy harmful bacteria such as E. coli 0157:H7. If thermometer is not available, do not eat ground beef that is still pink inside.

• Digital food thermometers and dial food thermometers have different usage instructions. Be sure to check the label!
  
• Don't confuse instant-read food thermometers with dial roasting thermometers. The dial roasting kind is used in the oven; it stays the meat or poultry the whole time it's cooking. Again—check the label!

Integrated Learning:

Science learning:

• Observe, record, create data.

Mathematics:

• Measure using time and different variables like 1 / 4" from edge, center, 160°F/71°C.
• Graph data collected over time.

Language arts:

• Conduct oral and written share of experiments and results.

Technology:

• Learn to use a food thermometer properly and research the different types of food thermometers.

Social Studies:

• Research what foodborne illness you might get if the hamburger is not cooked to 160°F/71°C, and find an example in news stories of people contracting this illness from eating undercooked hamburger.

Optional Followup:

• Research what bacteria cells look like.

Experiment

Be a Good Egg!

Outcome:

Scientists estimate that 1 in 20,000 eggs may contain harmful bacteria. The bacteria will be killed with thorough cooking. Eggs be cooked until the yolks and whites are firm. Don't use which eggs remain raw or only partially cooked.

Integrated Learnings:

Science learning:

• Observe, predict, hypothesize.

Mathematics:

• Develop system to chart data collected.
• Measure time and temperature, and make comparisons.

Language arts:

• Participate in oral and written share of experiment results.

Technology:

• Research safe food cooking temperatures for eggs, meat, poultry and fish.

Experiment

^TM/SM International Food Safety Council

* Distributed May 2002 for use in September 2002 as part of the International Food Safety Council's National Food Safety Education Month.

Top of Page
Welcome | Clean | Separate | Cook | Chill | What's New | Additional Food Safety Tools