Lesson 4.2: Food Access and Safety
Overview
This lesson focuses on understanding food access issues, such as food insecurity and foodborne illnesses, food safety as food is made, how food is produced, and how to protect yourself from contamination.
Learning Targets
- Explain what food insecurity is.
- Describe the food chain, and identify ways that foods become contaminated.
- Explain the four steps to food safety.
- Practice advocating for food access and food safety.
Preparation
For the Warm-Up Activity: Write the journal question on the board, or identify (and copy as needed) the worksheets you plan to use:
For the Content Focus: Open the Lesson 4.2 PowerPoint slides, or make copies of the Lesson 4.2 Note-Taking Guide.
For the Lesson Focus: Copy the Lesson 4.2 Advocating for Food Access Skill-Building Challenge Worksheet.
Warm-Up Activity
Select a warm-up activity to help get your class focused and on task.
- Journal Question: What do you know about where your food comes from and what happens to it before it shows up on your plate? Think about a meal you ate recently and try to trace the journey of that food from its origin to your plate. You can write a paragraph, use a bulleted list, or make a drawing.
- Option: Write or project the question, and have students respond in their journals as they enter class.
- Option: Have students discuss the questions with a partner or in a small group.
- Vocabulary Review: Have students work individually, in partners, or in small groups to complete the Lesson 4.2 Vocabulary Review Worksheet.
- Quiz: Have students complete the Lesson 4.2 Quiz to assess their prior knowledge.
- Option: Collect the quizzes, and use them alongside posttests to demonstrate student learning.
- Option: Have students share their answers with a partner and then go over the answers together as a class.
Lesson Content
Review the content from the textbook lesson.
Option: Use the Lesson 4.2 PowerPoint slides to review the chapter content.
Option: Have students use the Lesson 4.2 Note-Taking Guide to review chapter content. Ask students to work alone, in pairs, or in small groups. Review the questions as a class if time permits.
Lesson Focus: Advocating for Food Access
- Provide each student with one copy of the Lesson 4.2 Advocating for Food Access Skill-Building Challenge Worksheet.
- Ask students to complete this worksheet by themselves. Challenge them to pick an item that affects them, their school, or their community.
- Review the steps to community advocacy with students to prepare them for writing their speech.
- When students are finished writing their speeches, provide them an opportunity to read their speeches to classmates or even to the person they wrote it for if that person is part of the school.
Challenge Activity
Have students who need an additional challenge work on the following critical-thinking task.
You and your family are planning a big party for your mom’s birthday. You want to have the party outdoors because her birthday is in the summer. Plan a nutritious meal for your party, and explain what steps you would take to keep the foods safe to eat. In your response, think about the four steps to food safety.
Reflection and Summary
Review the critical content from today’s lesson. Review the learning targets, and ask students to answer each question posed.
Can you…
- Explain what food insecurity is?
Food insecurity refers to not having enough food to support an active, healthy life. Some people may be food insecure because they don’t have enough money to buy the food they need.
- Describe the food chain, and identify ways that foods become contaminated?
Food goes through several steps before it gets to your plate. These steps are called the food chain. The food chain includes the production, processing, distribution, and preparation of food. Foods can become contaminated with pathogens at any point along this process.
- Explain the four steps to food safety?
- Clean: Begin by washing your hands with warm, soapy water. Make sure all utensils, cutting boards, and surfaces are clean. Wash all fruits and vegetables to keep bacteria from spreading. Clean all surfaces and supplies thoroughly when done prepping food.
- Separate: Separate produce from meats, eggs, and poultry. Use separate cutting boards, surfaces, and utensils to prepare meat, eggs, and poultry.
- Cook: Cook foods to their proper temperature to kill known pathogens. Always serve food immediately or make sure to keep cooked foods above 140 °F if they are not being eaten right away.
- Chill: As soon as you are done eating, place all leftover food into the refrigerator. Use shallow dishes to allow foods to cool evenly. Foods that require refrigeration should not be left out at room temperature for more than two hours.
- Practice advocating for food access and food safety?
Try to understand more about the challenges others (and yourself) face in eating healthy on a regular basis, and use that information to inform yourself and others.
Assessment
Complete one or more of the following assessment tasks for this lesson.
- Quiz: Have students take the Lesson 4.2 Quiz.
- Vocabulary Review: Collect the Lesson 4.2 Vocabulary Review Worksheets, and evaluate them for accuracy.
- Note-Taking Guide: Collect the completed Lesson 4.2 Note-Taking Guides, and spot check one or more items for completion and accuracy.
- Skill-Building Worksheet: Have students submit the Lesson 4.2 Advocating for Food Access Skill-Building Challenge Worksheets, and use the Advocacy Holistic Rubric to evaluate their skill development.
- Journal Question: Ask students to respond to the journal question again, adding information they learned from today’s class. Require a one-paragraph response that uses proper grammar.
Take It Home
Make a poster that shows the four steps to food safety. Include specific information about each step, and personalize the poster for your family (use examples of foods you eat). Ask your parent or guardian to let you put the poster on the refrigerator or in the kitchen as a reminder of how to prevent foodborne illness.