Food Safety and Teens
Cindy M. Evans
County Extension Agent
Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS)
K-State Research and Extension (Shawnee County)
As a middle school and high school teacher for 10 years, I tried a variety of teaching methods to convey important messages to youth. Teaching food safety to teens may need to be approached differently depending on their ages.
Middle school teens are at a very teachable time in their lives. Many are beginning to do simple food preparation, but haven't had a lot of experience, so aren't as likely to say (or think to themselves), "I've been cooking hamburgers for years and never used a food thermometer. Why should I do it now?"
In middle school, important food safety messages should include proper hand washing, understanding which foods are most likely to make them sick if not cooked correctly, and how to use a food thermometer to take temperatures of food. Youth at this age might be allowed to earn extra credit by checking out a food thermometer from the FCS teacher and taking an internal temperature of hamburgers, chili or a casserole when cooking with a parent at home. Parents could help their teen (learning as they go) and could sign that the project was completed. Get photos or a few quotes from parents to put into the school newsletter that is sent to parents. Middls schools often use lots of "drawings" as incentives for the teens. (Coupons for a frozen yogurt, disposable cameras or a ticket to the movie) Perhaps those who return a signed sheet indicating that a food safety task has been completed would earn an entry into a drawing – something fun for the teen and a food thermometer for the parent. They both win!
Getting parents to help their children complete a task is vital at this age. These younger teens are typically still willing to pressure their parents to help them get a task completed because they want to earn a reward. By high school (in my experience), more youth are willing to let an assigned project slide and take a zero, or not seek the extra credit opportunity.
So, to motivate high school students, I think most of the learning takes place in the classroom setting and needs to be fun and social. Here's what I mean:
Activity: Conduct a food safety relay
Youth are typically assigned to food labs, often 5 or 6 labs with 3 or 4 youth each. Let youth work with their lab partners to complete the activities. They have about 5 minutes at each lab, then there's time for discussion.
Lab 1
Temperatures: Have 3 or 4 foods so the youth can measure temperatures: tub of sour cream, crockpot with soup, a hamburger patty.
Lab 2
Handwashing: Provide instructions for how to correctly wash and dry hands. Have the youth use a stopwatch to time each lab partner as they wash their hands. Be sure to emphasize that hands need to be dried with single-use paper towels – not the dish towel!
Lab 3
Keep it cool: Have youth use a refrigerator/freezer thermometer to take the temperatures in the freezer compartment and refrigeration compartment of the school refrigerator. Have a written problem to be solved. For example, the spirit squad had a chili feed. The hot chili was served from crock pots and leftovers now need to be correctly stored for future use. (Give choices of how they might accomplish this, some good and some not.) Each lab group should complete a paper with comments about why each choice is acceptable or not. Examples might include an ice water bath, dividing the chili into smaller containers to cool, leaving the chili at room temperature for several hours, or removing the crock pot insert, putting the lid on it and placing it directly in the refrigerator.
Lab 4
Separate, don't contaminate: Similar activity as above, but with cross-contamination example.
Lab 5
Identify potentially hazardous foods: I use rubber food models for this and have the name of each typed on a small half page. The students can discuss which foods are most likely to cause someone to become sick if the food is mishandled (time and temperature abuse) by improper storage, preparation or cooking. I include hot dogs, eggs, bagged salad, strawberries, cantaloupe, cooked green beans, raw carrots, chicken, cooked rice, milk, and cheese slices, a choice that always surprises the kids when they learn it is NOT a potentially hazardous food because water activity is too low.
The important thing about teaching high school teens is they MUST be involved. Their minds are wandering and they are preoccupied about friends, conversations, clothes, music and who knows what. You have to keep their minds with you. Doing this activity in the lab groups makes it more social, so they like it.