The Partnership for Food Safety Education shares the following story with you about picnic food safety.
One summer afternoon… The sun was shining and the birds were chirping, but Anna was sitting inside. She gazed longingly out of her window at her neighbor’s shiny new bicycle. Her mother had told her she could have one too, but only if she could raise the money to pay for it herself! How was she going to do that?
Later on, Anna was out walking when she noticed a sign at her local park: “Need a summer job? Become manager of your own picnic park! Raise money by renting picnic lots and keeping visitors happy and healthy!”
Thinking that it sounded fun, Anna headed over to the park department office to get started.
1. What items must Anna stock in her park to make sure her visitors follow food safety practices?
A) Flowers, a fountain, a tree, and some ice cubes.
B) A grill, a cooler, a food prep station, and a food safety sign.
C) A picnic table, a trash can, a restroom, and some grill brushes.
The next day, Anna checks on her park before dinner. Her stock of food thermometers is low.
2. What should she do?
A) Not worry. You can tell if food is cooked by looking at the color!
B) Wait and see if her park visitors mention it.
C) Re-stock immediately. Food thermometers are the only way to tell if meat is cooked safely.
Anna decides to buy flowers instead of restocking her food thermometers. Later that week, she gets a phone call that a few of her visitors are in the hospital with food poisoning! Feeling terrible, Anna reads and learns that using food thermometers is the only way to tell if meat is cooked to a safe internal temperature!
A few days later…Something has gone terribly wrong at Anna’s picnic park! Many of her visitors are unhappy or sick. Anna notices that her park is out of soap.
3. True/False: Being unable to wash their hands with running water and soap is probably making Anna’s visitors sick.
While watching over her park, Anna notices her visitors doing unsafe things! They’re not washing their hands before handling food and after using the bathroom, and they’re not keeping their food separated to avoid cross contamination. She decides to buy a food safety sign so her visitors will be constantly reminded of the four core practices.
4. Fill in the blank. Anna’s food safety sign reminds her visitors to Clean, Separate, __________ and Chill.
Anna wants all of her visitors to learn as much about food safety as she has. The park department offers food safety training she could buy. It’s expensive and she will have to wait longer to get her bicycle, but she doesn’t want any more visitors to get sick at her park.
5. Yes/No: Should Anna buy food safety training for her visitors?
Anna decided to buy the food safety training to keep her visitors happy and healthy. Good news: it worked! No one has been sick since the training and her visitors keep coming back to her park. It makes Anna happy to know she is keeping her park visitors safe from food poisoning. What else makes Anna happy? With the money from her visitor’s repeat visits, she has just enough for that shiny new bicycle.
