Food Bug Activities

e-Bug was developed for use in schools pre-COVID-19 and so some activities may require modification based on your school’s distancing guidelines. Please use your judgement and tell us how you have modified the activities, or if you would like to discuss some ideas, contact e-Bug@phe.gov.uk

Spot the mistake video (10-20 mins)

The above video is a new video that allows educators to play a short clip of a chef making a chicken stir fry.

Students need to spot key food hygiene mistakes. A discussion tailored to specific age groups will foster learning specific to food hygiene and links to the national curriculum.

• Younger students will discuss the food hygiene rules that were broken and how that might make them or others ill.
• 11-14-year-old students (KS3) will start to group the mistakes into two categories:
  • Food hygiene mistakes in relation to safety of the food preparer.
  • Food hygiene mistakes in relation to safety of the customer, or whoever will be tasting the product.
• Older students 15-18 year olds (KS4) will focus on content from the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point in their discussion.

After the discussion, the students will then watch the same scenario with no mistakes to reinforce good food hygiene practices.

A discussion sheet to be used with school and community groups can be found here. You will also find a link in the downloads section below.

Food sort (10-20 mins)

Suitable for KS2 and community groups

This activity will help participants identify that microbes can be useful or harmful. Participants are required to sort different foods according to whether they contain/are made with useful microbes, or contain harmful/food spoiling microbes.

A summary of instructions for both school and community groups can be found here. You will also find a link in the downloads section below.

How clean is your kitchen? (10-20 mins)

Suitable for KS1, KS2, and community groups

This is a practical demonstration or experiment that can be used to teach about cross-contamination, the danger zone, food hygiene and safety, as well as tool and hand hygiene. The participants make a chicken sandwich using play dough chicken, bread, salad and a toy oven. UV gel and a torch is used to show cross-contamination and how microbes have spread around the kitchen area.

A summary of instructions for both school and community groups can be found here. You will also find a link in the downloads section below.

If you are supporting home-learning or working with small groups of children, we have additional activities on food hygiene in our newly launched Antibiotic Guardian Youth Badge Leader and Volunteer Activity Pack. Click here to access this resource.

Have you carried out any activities which are similar to these?

Let us know your experiences in the comments below.