Healthy Schools! Healthy Kids! logo Rhode Island Food Safety Lessons
  Lesson 1
     Pre/Post Test
  Lesson 1A Laboratory
     Pre/Post Test
     Lab Outline
     Data Table
  Lesson 1B Laboratory
     Pre/Post Test
     Data Table
  Lesson 2
     Pre/Post Test
     Case Sheet
     Updates &    Clues
     5 "Ws" and    the "How"
     Scientist Tools
  Lesson 3
     Pre/Post Test
     5 of the Most    Wanted
  Lesson 4
     Pre/Post Test
     Web Quest 
     Points of    Controversy
  Lesson 5
     Pre/Post Test
     Role Play
     Regulations &    Inspectors 
  Teacher Evaluation

High School Food Safety Lessons

Lesson 1 Understanding Bacteria
National Health Education Standards
(grades 9-11) 1:1; 3:1; 6:3
  1. Introduce this lesson: (modify according to lessons to be taught)
    “Food safety is a very important issue that we will be pursuing for this lesson and the four that follow. Essentially, food safety is everyone's responsibility — everyone involved in growing, processing, transporting, and handling our food along all the points in our complex food distribution system. Food safety is a serious issue that affects the wellbeing of every individual. We all must eat so we are all at risk of becoming ill if our food becomes contaminated. Today we will begin by understanding that food safety has to do with controlling bacteria. First, we must learn where bacteria come from and how they grow, then how we can control bacteria.”
  2. State:
    “Let's get started. We have a great deal to cover to begin our understanding how to keep our food safe. I want you to remember the points we make in this lesson. Remembering could truly affect your life.”
activity 1
  1. Ask the students to divide into four teams and to select a spokesperson to report on the following:
  • Where bacteria live and how they grow.
  • How bacteria survive and reproduce.
  • How to control bacteria growth in foods.
  • How scientists can tell good bacteria from pathogens.
  1. Provide Team 1 with page 12 in Science and Our Food Supply: Investigating Food Safety from Farm to Table: Teacher's Guide for High School Science Classroom. Provide Team 2 with page 13; Team 3 with page 14, and Team 4 with page 14. Ask that the reports be lively and create understanding.

    Give students 10 minutes to prepare an outline for their spokesperson.

  2. Ask the students if they understand the reports and clarify any misunderstandings.
activity 2
Time to Tune In
Module 1—Understanding Bacteria
(15 minutes)
  1. Introduce the video by explaining:
    “There’s a lot of science behind keeping our food safe. Let’s begin by meeting Dr. X, a crusading food scientist who’s dedicated his life to fighting harmful bacteria and foodborne illness, and Tracy, a student working on her science video project, who teams up with him on his mission.”
  2. “I challenge you to uncover the following food-safety science links as you watch the video:
    What four weapons does Dr. X use to fight harmful bacteria?
  • What is the significance of the mysterious 0157:H7?
  • What is Dr. X referring to when he talks about the “baddest of the bad?”
  • What does DNA have to do with bacteria? What does it tell us?”
  1. Show video Module 1—Understanding Bacteria (Time: 15 minutes).
activity 3
  1. State:
  • “Dr. X talked about his four food safety weapons for fighting harmful bacteria; what are they?” (Clean, Cook, Chill, and Combat Cross-Contamination)
  • “What’s the significance of 0157:H7?” (E.coli 0157:H7 is one kind of E.coli that causes foodborme illness. E.coli evolved from the harmless E.coli bacterium.)
  • “Dr. X described the “baddest of the bad;” what was he referring to?” (The 12 Most Unwanted Bacteria that cause foodborne illness.)
  • “What does DNA have to do with bacteria?” (DNA encodes the information that enables bacteria to grow, reproduce, and cause illness.)
  • “What does DNA tell us?” (When there is an outbreak of foodborne illness, epidemiologists use the pathogen’s DNA fingerprint to determine the source of bacteria.)
  • “What does science have to do with food safety?” (Food safety has everything to do with controlling bacteria. There are all kinds of scientists dedicated to developing methods to keep our food supply safe.)
  • “Whose responsibility is it to keep our food supply safe along the Farm-to-Table Continuum?” (It’s everyone’s responsibility.)
  • “What effect do each of the 4Cs have on bacteria?” (Cleaning removes bacteria from hands and surfaces. Cooking [heat] kills bacteria by breaking down their cell walls. Chilling slows down the bacteria’s metabolism, thus slowing their growth. Combating Cross-Contamination prevents the spread of bacteria from one object to another.)
  1. Invite students to ask questions related to the video Module 1—Understanding Bacteria. Refer students to sources related to their questions, if you do not know the answers to their questions.
activity 4
  1. Use the following exercise to emphasize how prevalent foodborne illness is and to help students realize the seriousness of this issue and how it is related to them.
  2. Ask students:
    “How many of you have been affected by foodborne illness?”
    Write that number on the board.
  3. Now compute what percentage of the class thinks they have had foodborne illness.
  4. Using that percentage, ask your students to estimate how many students in the entire school might have had foodborne illness.
    (Note: Tell the students that this is only an assumption, and not an actual survey. This information is simply to help the students relate to the statistics that you are about to give them.)
  5. Point to the information already on the board regarding foodborne illness.
  6. Discuss:
    “There are approximately 274 million people in America. If 76 million people become sick due to foodborne illness, ask the students to calculate the percent of the population affected. Discuss the students' reactions to this percentage and have them relate it to the percentage calculated for the class. Then reiterate the importance of studying food safety.”
Summarize by saying:
“ It now becomes clear that bacteria are everywhere--we learned they grow, survive, and reproduce. It is possible to control pathogenic bacteria in food by using the 4Cs: Cooking, Chilling, Cleaning, Combating Cross-Contamination. The essence is that it is everyone’s responsibility to control the spread of bacteria—from farmer, food processor, persons who transport the food, people who work in markets and restaurants, to those of us in this room who eat the wonderful food supplied to us from world-wide sources.”
Integration ideas
Ask the students to:
  • Be alert to articles in the press related to foodborne illnesses and to bring these articles to the classroom for posting.
  • Encourage the English Department to ask for essays related to food safety.
  • Discuss with the Science Department providing further study of food safety by utilizing lab lessons found in Science and Our Food Supply: Investigating Food Safety from Farm to Table: Teacher's Guide for High School Level Science Classrooms.
  • Check the Internet to learn more about when and why food safety became a National Initiative.
    Some Websites are:
Kids First logo

Rhode Island Department of Education

Rhode Island Department of Health

University of Rhode Island

Bridge Communications