| Partnership for Food Safety Education

Kansas State University’s Fight BAC Class

March 26, 2015

Stephanie Castillo Teaches First and Second Grade Students the Core 4

Stephanie Castillo with Kansas State University taught food safety to first and second grade after school students this autumn. Her “Fight BAC Class” teaches food safety basics, such as hand-washing practices, to after school program kids. First, she begins her lesson with an illustration of the fast growth rate of illness-causing bacteria with a marble multiplication experiment . After a short break for “germ tag” and a healthy snack, Stephanie and the students talked about the importance of hand washing; hands should be washed with warm water and soap for twenty seconds every time before you eat and every time after you use the bathroom. The kids concluded that it is better to wash with warm water and soap but to use hand sanitizer when water and soap is not available. They were sent home with a food safety quiz to do alongside their parents.

Voices of BAC! Fighters

February 26, 2015

Allow us to introduce you to three BAC! Fighters who work hard to teach kids about food safety. We have been hearing from educators about their interest in new and refreshed Fight BAC!® educational material for kids.

Melissa is an enthusiastic middle school teacher from New Mexico that uses Fight BAC!® to make sure her sixth grade students are safe from foodborne illness. Her sixth grade students are like sponges, she says, and would love new materials for her students.

Devoted community nutrition educator, Denise, from Minnesota, reaches over 500 kids in 3rd to 5th grade with Fight BAC!® materials and is always interested in new, evidence-based material for her students.

Dana, a passionate educator from Texas, uses Fight BAC!® materials in middle and high school because it catches her students’ attention and would like updated materials to keep their interest.

Fight BAC!® materials for students have been in the field since 1998.

In response to demonstrated need by educators for new materials for kids, the Partnership is seeking partners for support of a new campaign in 2013- the BAC! Fighters National Youth Campaign.

Please consider making a year-end charitable contribution that supports educators like Melissa, Denise, and Dana in their efforts to end foodborne illness in America.

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!®

Eat Smart, Move More…and Fight BAC! ®

February 26, 2015

Harmful BAC (bacteria) that can be in food isn’t part of anyone’s plan for a healthy body.

Virginia’s Family Nutrition Program is working to make sure BAC stays off the menu for the state’s limited – resource families. They are Fighting BAC!® every day with food safety as a required component of all FNP curricula. Teaching safe food handling is one way the FNP is teaching limited-resource families and youth how to make smart food choices. Participants are expected to demonstrate acceptable food safety practices upon completion of the program.

What’s next on the FNP agenda? Preparing to Fight BAC!® for the upcoming school year! Nutrition Outreach Instructors use food safety print materials from The Partnership for Food Safety Education to create fun and interactive kits for the Smart Food Safety portion of their 3^rd-7^th grade curriculum, Healthy Weights for Healthy Kids. BAC won’t stand a chance against these healthy kids!

The VA Family Nutrition Program strives to teach limited-resource families and youth to make healthier food choices and become better managers of available food resources for optimal health and growth. Check out their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/VaFNP.

A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words

February 26, 2015

Rub a dub scrub: Pennsylvania’s Get Smart Drawing Competition Fights BAC! ® that could be on hands.

Kids’ hands are a favorite hiding place for harmful bacteria. It’s no surprise that many foodborne disease outbreaks start with contaminated hands. For kids, germs are out of sight and out of mind. They don’t think about invisible pathogens lurking on their hands before they put their fingers in their mouths, pick up a sandwich, or pass toys to classmates.

BAC Fighter Natalie Mueller of Pennsylvania’s Get Smart program has come up with a contest to make the importance of handwashing memorable to kids across the state. This Fall, kids will be asked to draw a picture that illustrates why it’s important to wash their hands.

Prompting kids to visualize germs on their hands will shed light on just why they are supposed to wash their hands. Kids can be as creative as they want; drawing germ-battling heroes or simply drawing everything they touched in day. A picture is worth a thousand words – especially a picture of all of the scary germs that might be on your hands! That’s a lesson that doesn’t fade quickly.