How Clean is Your Kitchen ?

How safe is your food?
 
 

A WebQuest for Ms. Parr's 11-12th Grade 
Culinary Arts class

 WebQuest designed by Anne Parr
aparr1@lsu.edu

Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits

Introduction 

Food Safety is a serious topic.  Each year millions of people in the United States become sick as a result of consuming food or water contaminated with disease-causing bacteria such as staphylococcus aureus, e. coli, and salmonella.   Symptoms of food poisoning include abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea. 

Though we often hear about the lack of restaurant sanitation in the news, most cases of food poisoning occur as a result of eating food that is prepared at home.  Let's work together to discover how to keep our kitchens clean and our food safe to eat.
 

Create a checklist for evaluating home kitchens and kitchen workers.  These five food safety and sanitation areas should be considered:

  (1)  personal hygiene habits of food preparers
  (2)  procedures for sanitizing kitchen surfaces and equipment, including
          care of cutting boards
  (3)  food storage temperatures and handling of leftovers
  (4)  insect, rodent, and animal control
  (5)  storage and use of chemicals, including pesticides, detergents, and
          sanitizing agents 
 
 

1.  You will work in pairs on this project, using the classroom computer.  Search
     the Internet for information relating to food safety, especially safety and 
     sanitation in home kitchens.

     Here are a few websites to get you started. 

     FDA Center for Food Safety
     http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/educate.html#kids

     National Food Safety Information Network
     www.foodsafety.gov

     Partnership for Food Safety Education
     http://www.fightbac.org/main.cfm

    As you locate useful information, make handwritten notes or save the information on a disk.

2.  Develop a list of criteria for evaluating kitchens and the practices of 
     people who prepare food in kitchens.  Here is an example:

     Is the freezer temperature maintained at
     0°F or below?

    Your checklist should include at least five questions for each of the five 
    areas listed (see Task), and a method of evaluating each.
 

3.  Include a method of tallying results on your checklist so that a "PASS" or
     "FAIL" grade can be assigned after the kitchen inspection is conducted.
 

4.  Submit a printed copy of your checklist to the teacher.  Include
      a cover sheet with both of your names.
 

5.  Finally, for homework, each member of your team should take home a
     copy of the checklist and evaluate your own kitchen.  Remember to assign
     the result of "PASS" or "FAIL."  Have one of your parents sign
     the completed checklist in the top left corner.  Submit this within two days
     of completing the project.  (Your project grade will not be affected by the
     pass/fail status of your home kitchen.) 
 

Theindividual portion of your grade on this project will be worth fifty points as follows:
participated equally in project                                             10 points
cooperated with partner                                                       10 points
used good time management skills                                    10 points
followed established guidelines for computer use           10 points
conducted and submitted evaluation of home kitchen   10 points
 

The group portion of your grade on this project will be worth fifty points as follows:
criteria listed demonstrate an understanding of the topic         10 points
information used was located on the Internet                            10 points
listed at least five criteria for each of the five areas                 10 points
used proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation                        10 points
included a method of tallying checklist results for pass/fail       10 points

Grading scale:    95-100  A
                               87-94   B 
                               76-86   C
                               70-75   D
                       BELOW 75   F 
See blackboard in classroom for project due date.  For each day late, 15 points will be subtracted from the group's grade.
 

Conclusion 

By participating in this WebQuest you gained important knowledge about food safety and sanitation.  Food poisoning is a very serious matter.  Don't become a statistic in the newspaper.  Remember what you learned and keep your kitchen clean. 

If you are interested in investigating this topic further, visit the school library and look for information under these headings:  HACCP; food-borne illness; restaurant health inspections; cross-contamination; clostridium botulinum;  perfringens; E. coli. 
 
 

Visit Mr. Food at
 http://www.homearts.com/mrfood/toc/00mfhpc1.htm