Healthy Habits: Food Safety Info for Kids

Each year nearly half of the 48 million Americans who suffer food-borne illnesses are children under 15. New, fun and free educational tools are now available for the classroom, in home and on mobile devices to help kids learn about safe food handling practices in real-world situations. Developed by the Partnership for Food Safety Education, these tools include the Perfect Picnic for iPhone/iPad app, a free game that makes kids directors of a picnic park, earning points as they help others practice safe food handling; and the Fight BAC at Picnic Park educator's guide, featuring multiple print-yourself activity sheets, presentations and quizzes for parents and/or educators to share with kids - all meeting important national health and science education standards. 

• The new Perfect Picnic game for iPhone and iPad makes kids masters of their own picnic park, earning “income” by renting out barbeque spots and keeping their visitors happy with everything for a delicious and safe cookout. The more successful players are at helping their visitors, the more they can improve the quality and increase the size of their park. But the entire park operations can go off-track if visitors don’t have soap to wash their hands, ice to store their food, and food thermometers to use when cooking their hamburgers.
• Educator's Guide: Fight BAC!® at Picnic Park is an educational guide, in English and Spanish, covers the fundamentals of safe food handling – Clean, Separate, Cook and Chill. The new guide and classroom activities for kids ages 8-11 can be downloaded free. Fight BAC!® at Picnic Park is aimed at classroom and community health and science educators to help them share important preventive health information with students as well as their families. Materials include print-yourself downloads and activities that can be used not only in the classroom but at home, in community settings and after-school programs. The guide features:  

• Educator’s script and standards alignment description
• The 10 Least Wanted Fight BAC!® mini-poster, identifying the top pathogens that can cause food poisoning
• Fight BAC!® At Picnic Park activity sheet students can use to identify common picnic food safety mistakes
• “Keep, Toss or Freeze?” activity sheet challenging kids with appropriate actions they need to take to keep food safe
• “Can You Fight BAC?” power point quiz for parents and children to take together to master fundamental safe home food safety practices

“The Partnership’s Fight BAC!® campaign has served millions of kids and educators over the years,” said the Partnership’s Executive Director, Shelley Feist.  “We know educators and parents will enjoy using these quality materials and encouraging play of Perfect Picnic which challenges kids to manage food safety situations at their own picnic park.”

The Fight BAC!® at Picnic Park educator guide has been developed by Young Minds Inspired (YMI), the nation’s leading provider of free educational outreach programs for learners of all ages.  YMI’s editor is managing partner Dr. Dominic Kinsley, who has specialized in education outreach for 25 years.

Perfect Picnic and Fight BAC!® at Picnic Park were produced with the support of Cargill Inc.,  Tyson Foods, Inc. and Publix Super Market Charities. The youth campaign initiative is the most comprehensive educational program for kids to come out of the Partnership since the original Fight BAC!® campaign was launched in 1998.

The Partnership for Food Safety Education is supported by the Food Marketing Institute, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, NSF International, the Produce Marketing Association, and ServSafe, among other leading industry associations, professional societies in food science, nutrition and health, and consumer groups.