Fourth Grade
Worksheets
Nutritional Safety
We give a lot of thought to the kinds of foods we eat. We want them to be nutritionally healthy. Do we ever take the time to see if the food is safe and that our cooking and eating environment is safe as well? We really should.
Cooking and eating should be healthy, safe, and fun. First and foremost, younger children should always be supervised by an adult. Why? Foods need to be prepared carefully, surfaces need to be clean, and equipment around the kitchen needs to be used appropriately. An older child may know the basics, but a younger child probably does not.
Even the youngest child may have heard that germs can make a person sick. Germs can be on many surfaces, including a person's hands. In order to keep food safe, a person needs to clean his hands with soap and water before touching food. This includes mixing ingredients with one's hands. Hands may need to be rewashed after a person handles raw meat, raw poultry, raw egg, and raw fish. These particular foods are especially prone to carrying bacteria. No one wants that bacteria to end up in his mouth.
Besides a person's hands, the surface that is being used to work on should be clean. Cutting boards, countertops, and tables should be washed with warm water and soap and then dried. When someone is all done using these surfaces, they should be cleaned again for safety's sake.
