| Partnership for Food Safety Education

Mixing it up with Fight BAC!®

February 26, 2015

With over 20 years in public schools teaching food safety, Melissa Blaine still finds ways to get creative with Fight BAC!®. Melissa is a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher at Grant Middle School in New Mexico. Melissa has been using Fight BAC!® for years in her classrooms and she says her 6th graders love it! But she stays creative and mixes things up by adapting the Fight BAC!® handouts to challenge her kids in new ways on the four core messages: Clean, Separate, Cook, and Chill. Melissa says that the “6th graders are enthusiastic learners and want to be in the kitchen and cook, not just to eat, but to become more independent. They can use these skills in class, at home and in the future in food service jobs”.

Thank you Melissa for the 20 years you have spent Fighting BAC!®

School Starts with Food Safety

February 26, 2015

BAC Fighter Stephanie Castillo plans a packed Food Safety Education Month for Kansas Students

Stephanie Castillo, a BAC Fighter from the Kansas Family Nutrition Program, always kicks off her work in elementary schools with Food Safety Education Month. Last September, Stephanie taught hand washing and food safety to 614 students!

Here are some of the tactics she used to make sure her elementary students got the most out of Food Safety Education Month:

Interactive tools

Stephanie used a thermometer, ice pack, strainer, scrub brush, and two separate cutting boards to teach students how to practice the four core food safety steps.

Story time

The He’s BAC Storybook and BAC himself turned story time into food safety time. Stephanie also read Germs! Germs! Germs! and Oh! The Things You Can Do That Are Good For You to teach kids all about staying healthy.

Pass the germ game

Stephanie crocheted “germs” that the students could pass around. They passed them around in a circle until instructed to stop. Students left holding the germs were out of the game.

Eating germs!

Yuck – not that kind of germ! This one is made of crackers, cream cheese, and pretzels. Get the recipe here.

Glo Germ machine booths

To teach the important of hand washing, Stephanie set up an interactive Glo Germ booth. Students were able to see where they needed to work on proper hand washing techniques.
We can’t imagine many more fun ways to teach kids about food safety and hand hygiene! Keep up the good work, Stephanie!

Rinse at your Own Risk!

February 26, 2015

BAC Fighter collaboration urges consumers to stop rinsing chicken

Dr. Jennifer Quinlan brought together a team of BAC Fighters from Drexel University and New Mexico State University to set the record straight on one hot button topic. They’re telling consumers: “Don’t Wash Your Chicken.”

To the estimated 90% of consumers still rinsing chicken, this declaration comes as a shock. Most will ask, “But why not?”

The Don’t Wash Your Chicken campaign has that question covered.

Using humorous video mini dramas, cooking demos, and photo-novellas with recipe cards, the campaign clearly conveys to consumers the reasons that they shouldn’t wash their chicken:

1) Cooking to 165° Fahrenheit kills the bacteria

2) Washing actually spreads the germs all around your kitchen

For any skeptics, the video mini dramas feature “germ-vision” overlays, giving viewers a visual of the slimy, green, germ splatters that will most likely result if they opt to rinse their poultry.

To soften the blow for many veteran rinsers, the campaign also reminds them that removing the rinse step actually makes cooking chicken easier and simpler. Changing behavior is not to so bad after all!

All of these education materialas are available and able to be downloaded at the website: http://drexel.edu/dontwashyourchicken/Videos-Photo-novellas/Overview/

Thank you Drexel University, New Mexico State University, and the USDA on this wonderful work to Fight BAC! ®

Safe Kids Day

January 26, 2015

Dr. Beth Canfield-Simbro Teaches Food Safety to Kids and Parents

Dr. Beth Canfield-Simbro, an Associate Professor of Public Health & Health Education at the University of Mount Union, used Fight BAC!® materials at Safe Kids Day. The University partnered with the Stark County, Ohio Health Department and many other community organizations to host this family event, aimed at providing safety tips of all kinds. Over 170 children attended this years’ fair. Beth taught food safety to kids and their parents using an interactive display with small refrigerator and a bunch of plastic foods. Children loved guessing which foods had to go in the fridge, and which could stay out safely. Beth also gave away cooking temperature magnets to help families Fight BAC at home after Safe Kids Day was over.

Teaching Food Safety in the Classroom

January 26, 2015

TRACY AJELLO WAS AN AUTHOR OF THE ORIGINAL FIGHT BAC! MATERIALS

“Raise your hand if you have leftovers in your fridge” says Tracy Ajello, a 5th grade teacher at Doolittle School in Cheshire, Connecticut. Hands shoot up in the air. Tracy often starts her lessons with a question to help her students make the connection between her food safety lessons and life at home. At school cookouts, Tracy shows children how to properly use a food thermometer – most have never seen a food thermometer and are quick to tattle-tail on their parents.

A veteran BAC! Fighter, Tracy was an author of some of the original Fight BAC!® experiments, activities, and assessments. She was also one of the two teacher authors to present the new Fight BAC!® program for the first time at the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) conference. Tracy still uses Fight BAC!® materials because she believes it to be important to teach children about healthy living, and, too often, food safety is overlooked. Tracy finds such great joy out of seeing her experiments, activities, and assessments still being used.