Partnership for Food Safety Education

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Making Family Memories with Safe Recipes

Many of us have fond memories of cooking with our parents or grandparents, baking cookies or preparing holiday meals. When looking for fun activities to do with kids, one great-grandmother went a step further.  

Barb the Great, as she’s known by her family, works with brothers Cole and Clayton to enter cooking contests. She does all the research while each boy comes up with ideas. Together, they test and adjust their individual recipes, then Barb gets them entered. In total, they’ve entered about 10 different contests!

In 2020, Barb came across PFSE’s 30-Minute Meals Safe Recipe Contest. Both boys entered, and Cole’s Cheesy Sausage, Bacon, & Apple Bagel won an honorable mention in the 30-Minute Meals Safe Recipe Cookbook.

Hard work pays off

When the Young Cooks Recipe Challenge opened earlier this year, it was game on! Once again, the family worked together, and each boy created their own lunch dish.

It was a big challenge for the young chefs this year, because they had to incorporate healthy ingredients. Using the USDA’s guidelines for a healthy plate, each recipe had to contain at least two of four types of ingredients: a lean protein, a fruit, a vegetable, or a whole grain.

Younger brother Clayton’s Mexican Chicken Wrap is featured in The Healthy Lunch Cookbook. His recipe includes grilled Southwest chicken strips, pineapple salsa, and fresh avocado.

Cole won the Grand Prize with his Chicken, Fruit & Nut Salad Sandwich! He added his own twist and made it healthier by using his favorite fruits and nuts. The result is a satisfying savory, tart, sweet and crunchy concoction.
In addition to being featured in the cookbook, Cole received a $100 gift card. He used his prize money to buy himself a cool new water bottle that he decorated himself with his favorite stickers. It’s perfect for him to take anywhere, especially to soccer practice.

Kids in the kitchen

While Barb the Great is creating wonderful memories in the kitchen with the boys, she’s also doing so much more. A study from the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior suggests that developing cooking skills while kids are young may have long-term benefits in both health and nutrition into adulthood.* Confidence in the kitchen “led to fewer fast-food meals, more meals as a family, and more frequent preparation of meals with vegetables.”

While cooking, young chefs learn about food safety, nutrition, math, science, and they develop fine motor skills. In addition, time spent preparing meals “stirs” their imagination, and can even lead them to create their own recipes, just like Cole and Clayton!

PFSE has great resources specifically geared toward kids, including a Safe Recipe Activity. For parents, there’s a printable flyer on getting started, finding age-appropriate tasks, and inspiring kids to create their own recipes!

Before getting involved with PFSE’s challenges, Barb’s family had never added food safety prompts to their recipes. It was easy for them to do using the Safe Recipe Style Guide. The boys’ mother Tanya said the process has made them more aware of food safety at home. They wash hands, cutting boards and counters more often between steps while preparing meals.

More fun on the horizon!

Cole, Clayton and Barb have been keeping busy in the kitchen this year. In addition to winning the Young Cooks Recipe Challenge, Cole also won $1,000 with his quesadilla recipe in a cheese contest! Currently, the family is working on milkshakes for an upcoming contest.

You can join this busy trio later this month by registering for Ready, Set, Cook It Safe! on Saturday, Sept. 3 at 11:30 a.m. EST. At this virtual event, they’ll be demonstrating Cole’s delicious winning recipe, along with Cinnamon Tortilla Crisps and Fruit Salsa. The salsa was inspired by a fruit salad that was also featured in The Healthy Lunch Cookbook and created by students Conner, Victoria and Lydia. You’ll receive the recipes and equipment list in advance so you can cook along.

Bring your own family! There will be lots of fun, food safety information, cooking tips, and even prizes!

In addition, your $25 donation helps keep access to food safety education free for all Americans, like Barb, Cole and Clayton.

Register for Ready, Set, Cook It Safe!

*Larson, N., Laska, M., Neumark-Sztainer, D., Winkler, M., & Utter, J. (2018). Self-perceived cooking skills in emerging adulthood predict better dietary behaviors and intake 10 years later: a longitudinal study. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 50(5). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2018.01.021

Chef Leslie Owens is lead BAC Fighter on culinary content and safe recipe contests. Leslie is a chef and writer from Central Florida. She is guardian of the furry Stooges.

BAC Fighter Marie Engages Students in Safe Cooking

Marie Canesi is a culinary teacher at the League School of Greater Boston. The school’s mission is “to help students with Autism develop to their fullest potential in every aspect of their lives; social, emotional, academic, and behavioral.”

For the past eight years Marie has been in the kitchen with her students, teaching them how to keep a balanced diet and prepare food safely. Each week she sees about 70 students of all ages, from three years old to 22 years old.

Marie has always tried to show her students the importance of basic food safety behaviors, such as handwashing, but they need reminders about why those behaviors are so important.

The perfect opportunity

When Marie attended the 2021 Consumer Food Safety Education Virtual Conference, she heard about a unique chance for her students to engage in food safety behaviors: a recipe challenge!

The Young Cooks Recipe Challenge seemed like the perfect opportunity for Marie’s students to engage in cooking while learning about and practicing food safety behaviors. Marie felt it was also valuable for her students to hear about food safety from a source other than her. She wanted to help them understand why safe food handling is so important to staying healthy. Marie decided that the recipe challenge would be “a cool thing for her students to try.”

Food safety and recipe creation

The Partnership for Food Safety Education hosted the Young Cooks Recipe Challenge from March 22 to May 3, 2021. Students in grades 1 through 12 were encouraged to build their own healthy lunch recipes that included basic food safety steps from the Safe Recipe Style Guide.

The challenge was a fun way to encourage students to practice food safety and eat healthy foods. The recipes entered in the challenge were required to include food safety steps as well as two different healthy ingredients from the following categories: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins.

Enjoyable recipe-writing activity

Marie started the challenge by approaching a few of her students, the ones she knew really loved to cook. She said the kids she approached “just lit up” when she began talking to them about the challenge. This activity would be their first one back in the kitchen since the beginning of the COVD-19 pandemic, and they were excited to cook in the classroom again.

The students began the process by sitting down with Marie and discussing what recipe they thought they wanted to try. Then they tested their recipe in the kitchen. The first time they tested their recipes they shared them with the class for a taste test and offered each other suggestions for improving the recipe. Then, they prepared it a second time and typed up their recipes with basic food safety steps to enter the challenge.

Marie Canesi preparing dinner for residential students (courtesy League School of Greater Boston)

The students had fun, and in the end, they submitted two recipes from Marie’s classes and one from another teacher’s class. Marie is proud of her students no matter what the results of the contest.

“I think they did a great job, and I want to acknowledge them,” Marie said.

Advice for educators

Marie offered her advice on teaching food safety in the classroom.

“There are lots of wonderful tools available, and people should get familiar with the Partnership and their tools. There are different activities and tools to appeal to kids at different levels,” she said. “I highly recommend that educators attend the next Consumer Food Safety Education Conference, and learn about all the tools and resources available.”

Katie Weston is the Community Engagement Manager with the Partnership for Food Safety Education. She can be contacted at kweston@fightbac.org.

Feed Children the Rainbow: Idaho Extension Plans Family Recipe Book

Recipes based on fresh local produce

Joey Peutz and a group of fellow extension educators in Idaho are working on a special project to help parents delight their children in eating a rainbow of fresh produce from local farmers markets.

The farmers market recipe book will provide a month of original, no-cook dishes featuring seasonal produce. Joey is building Fight BAC!® ProducePro into the book and using the Safe Recipe Style Guide to build food safety prompts into the recipe. The Style Guide includes the message to rinse fresh produce under running water.

“I love the resources PFSE provides,” she said. “We’re able to interest people more in food safety when we focus on people’s passion and interest in delicious food at home.”

As a food safety educator in Idaho for more than 20 years, Joey is seeing more interest in home meals, local foods and convenient preparation methods.

For the recipe book, Joey and her colleagues are testing each recipe and preparing photographs of the completed dishes.

The idea for the recipe book came about with a program where Joey and fellow SNAP ED educators worked with a mobile farmers market out of Boise, providing recipes and even preparing dishes with seasonal local produce for families to taste when they visited the mobile.

The excitement of fresh summer produce really comes through in the chosen recipes which include fennel arugula salad, Asian-style cucumbers and a simple crunchy carrot dish.

Eat Smart Idaho does programming in 31 Idaho counties. The group of educators working on the farmers market recipes covers the central south region in Idaho, but Joey thinks the recipe book will be used by many health and nutrition educators in Idaho.

Get more information on Eat Smart Idaho. Brush up on your fresh produce handling tips with Produce Pro.

Joey Peutz is a county extension educator with the University of Idaho extension in Payette County. She is also District Administrator of Eat Smart Idaho and an instructor for Master Food Safety Advisors.

Kids Cook Up a Healthy Tomorrow!

Today is World Food Safety Day! Let’s inspire young people to take charge of their own healthy, safe meals.

When young people prepare their own meals and snacks they are doing more than feeding themselves. A study from the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior suggests that developing cooking skills while young may have long-term benefits in both health and nutrition into adulthood.* Confidence in the kitchen “led to fewer fast-food meals, more meals as a family, and more frequent preparation of meals with vegetables.”

While cooking, kids and teens develop fine motor skills and they also learn about food safety, nutrition, math and science. Time spent preparing meals “stirs” the imagination, and can lead young cooks to create their own recipes!

Basic food safety at home

Adults and teachers can introduce young cooks to basic safe food handling practices at the point they are learning to prepare food at home. The fundamentals include:

  • Wash hands with soap and water for 20 seconds before preparing food.
  • Wash cutting boards, dishes, utensils, and counter tops with hot soapy water after preparing each food item and before you go on to the next food.
  • Rinse fresh fruits and vegetables under running water, including those with skins and rinds that are not eaten.
  • Keep raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs separate from cooked or ready-to-eat foods.
  • Use a food thermometer to check that food is cooked to a proper internal temperature. Check out the Safe Minimum Temperature Chart.
  • Refrigerate leftovers promptly at 40 °F or below.


Make sure all your recipes are SAFE recipes

A “safe” recipe includes basic instructions for handwashing, safe food handling, preparation and storage. These food safety prompts can be found in the Safe Recipe Style Guide.

If you are an amateur cook or a culinary professional, can you help spread the word about safe recipes? Here’s why it’s important!

Multiple studies show that when people follow recipes that incorporate basic food safety instructions, they significantly increase food safety behaviors. These behaviors and prevent a serious foodborne illness.

These tools can help you be an advocate for safe recipes:


Celebrate World Food Safety Day!

We’re cooking up something special in honor of World Food Safety Day! Join the Partnership for Food Safety Education’s Facebook Live event to hear from Beau Coffron, the Lunchbox Dad, about his experience working to inspire and involve kids in the kitchen.

You’ll also meet the judges for the Young Cooks Recipe Challenge and hear the announcement of the recipe contest winners!

And, don’t miss the REVEAL of the new young cooks cookbook filled with recipes created by kids for kids!

Kids Cook Up a Healthy Tomorrow on World Food Safety Day!

Monday, June 7
7 p.m. Eastern

Mark your calendar, and bring the kids!

Learn more about World Food Safety Day.

Shawnte Loeri is the Communications Associate with the Partnership for Food Safety Education. She enjoys cooking vegan meals with her family and friends. Shawnte can be reached at sloeri@fightbac.org.

Larson, N., Laska, M., Neumark-Sztainer, D., Winkler, M., & Utter, J. (2018). Self-perceived cooking skills in emerging adulthood predict better dietary behaviors and intake 10 years later: a longitudinal study. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 50(5). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2018.01.021

Creating Safe Recipes: A Hands-On Experience that Teaches Valuable Skills!

In the age of COVID-19 when so much of students’ time is spent online, building recipes is a valuable opportunity for hands-on learning.

Cooking and building safe recipes incorporate math, science, nutrition, and food safety in a real-life setting that allows students to explore their creativity.

Whether you’re helping young cooks develop a recipe or writing your own, the steps are the same to create a delicious, safe recipe.

  • Look for inspiration. This can come from anywhere but can be as simple as adding a unique twist on a favorite dish or using up ingredients in the fridge or pantry.
  • Do some research. Find out what’s out there to get an idea of ingredients, ratios, techniques, times, and temperatures.
  • Decide what makes your recipe different. Maybe it’s making a dairy-free creamy potato soup or incorporating vegetables into traditional shrimp and grits, every cook adds their own special twist.
  • Write it down. Make a list of the ingredients in the order you’ll use them and a basic outline of the steps. Instructions should be clear and begin with action words like chop, stir, whisk, bake, etc.
  • Time to cook! Test and adjust as you go. Add cooking cues, such as “approximately X minutes” or “check when it starts to smell like…”
  • Make one change at a time. Don’t make too many changes at once. Edit your recipe one step at a time.
  • Get creative. A strong finish is important. At the end of the recipe, try a bit of acid like lemon juice, vinegar, or fresh herbs to brighten and enhance flavor.
  • Keep trying! Cooking takes practice. Don’t give up if things didn’t turn out the way you wanted the first time.
  • Add food safety prompts. Be sure to double-check the Safe Recipe Style Guide to make sure you haven’t missed anything!
  • Photo finish! Take a nice photo of your creation so everyone can see your hard work.


Want more tips for inspiring students to create their own recipes? Download the “Inspiring Young Cooks” and check out the Safe Recipe Activity for Middle School Students!

Something’s cooking in honor of World Food Safety Day! Students who entered the Young Cooks Recipe Challenge had an amazing opportunity to submit healthy lunch recipes for an online cookbook that will be shared with thousands, including other students just like them!

Join our upcoming Facebook Live event Monday, June 7 at 7 p.m. EST, to discuss getting kids and teens in the kitchen to create safe recipes! Beau Coffron, known as the Lunchbox Dad, will join us for Q&A, and winners of the Young Cooks Recipe Challenge will be announced!

Mark your calendar, and bring the kids!

Katie Weston is the Community Engagement Manager with the Partnership for Food Safety Education. Chef Leslie Owens is the lead BAC Fighter on the Young Cooks Recipe Challenge.