Food safety is about handling, storing and preparing food to prevent infection and help to make sure that our food keeps enough nutrients for us to have a healthy diet. Unsafe food and water means that it has been exposed to dirt and germs, or may even be rotten, which can cause infections or diseases such as diarrhoea, meningitis, etc.
These diseases can make people very sick or even be life threatening. When people are sick, they are weak and would have difficulty working or concentrating at school. Some of these infections also make it difficult for our bodies to absorb the nutrients they need to get healthy. Unsafe or stale foods also deteriorate and be of poor quality, which means they lose nutrients and so we do not get enough of what we need for a healthy diet. So unsafe food can also lead to poor nutrition.
This section has 2 activities to help Rural Youth Club members to learn about Food Safety and think of ways to promote Food and Water Safety messages in their communities.
Notes
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Project skill: |
To understand the importance of safe food and water for good nutrition and preventing diseases |
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Life skills: |
Recognising self-worth |
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Food Guide Poster |
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Preparation: |
Make enough copies of the Food Safety Handout so that all group members may have one. |
Introduction
1. Point to the guideline on the Food Guide poster: "Consume clean and safe water and food" and explain to everyone that this activity is to help them to understand the importance of safe food and water for good nutrition.
Explain that "Healthy Food" doesn't just mean that which is good for a balanced diet, but that this also means foods which are in good condition and safe to eat.
Experience
2. Explain that, even though they may not think so, everyone in this meeting already has some knowledge about why it is so important that we should have clean and safe food and water. Point out that the knowledge they have has come from their family members, (parents, grandparents, other relatives) as well as what they have learned in school or from other educational materials.
3. Encourage a discussion in which your group members remember and share what they have learned by naming the important things they know about safe food and water.
4. Explain to your group members that clean and safe food are very important because the organisms which contaminate foods and water not only cause diseases such as diarrhoea, meningitis, etc., but they also destroy valuable nutrients in the food. Therefore when learning about nutrition, it is also very important to also learn about safe storage and handling of food.
5. Give copies of the Food Safety Handout to all your group members.
If it was not possible to make enough copies of the Food Safety Handout for everyone to have a copy, let everyone write the information in their note books at the end of the activity.
6. Work through the information on the Handout, point by point, with the group members.
Process
7. Let the group have a general discussion on Food Safety. Try to encourage everyone's ideas by asking questions such as:
What other things can we do to prevent contamination of our water?
Have separate water sources for livestock, prevent human and animal faeces from contaminating drinking water.
What other things can we do to prevent contamination of food?
Bury or dispose of household waste in bags and bins (decaying food particles in litter attract flies, which can carry the disease to our food) use pit latrines, wash the udders of livestock before milking, keeping milking pails clean and properly stored.
What can we do to avoid buying old food?
Check the "sell by" dates on containers; choose fresh, healthy-looking foods.
Why do you think we should cook or reheat food properly? Heat from cooking can destroy germs.
Apply
8. End this activity by letting your group member review what they have learnt by having a discussion. Guide the review by asking questions such as:
What did you learn in this activity?
What did you like about this activity?
Do you think this knowledge will help you to tell others in your community about the importance of Food Safety?
Do you have ideas for other activities which could be done about Food Safety?
Handout: Food Safety
Clean and safe food are very important to prevent germs from getting into foods and water. Such germs not only cause diseases, but they also destroy valuable nutrients in the food.
Wash hands with soap and clean water after going to the toilet, changing babies' nappies and working with animals. Also wash hands before working with food and before eating.
Wash all fruit and vegetables in clean water before eating and cooking. Add a teaspoon of salt to this water.
Wash the udder of the cow or goat well before milking.
Wash dishes and utensils (knives, spoons, etc) immediately after use and store them in a clean place where flies or dust can't get on them.
Choose fruit and vegetables that are fresh and healthy-looking.
Boil water and milk for at least 5 minutes. (A small glass bottle, or china cup or saucer placed in the pot will stop the milk from boiling over).
Do not eat cracked eggs. Wipe eggs clean with a clean, damp cloth before use, cook eggs until they are no longer runny.
Avoid buying or eating food which is old. Check the sell-by dates on food products.
Cook or reheat food properly, but avoid overcooking, because this can destroy nutrients. Also avoid cooking food in too much water, because the nutrients get lost when they go into the water.
Keep cooked and raw foods apart when preparing or storing them. This helps to prevent germs from moving from one to the other.
If you do not have a fridge, do not keep cooked food for more than a few hours in cool weather. In warm weather, eat it as soon as possible. To avoid waste, rather cook smaller amounts than cooking too much food which has to then be kept too long or thrown away.
Keep food warm only as long as really needed; otherwise let if cool as soon and fast as possible. Warmth will encourage germs to breed.
If you have a fridge, avoid keeping cooked food or raw meat for more than 24 hours unless it is in the freezer.
Water and food should be stored in clean, covered containers in a cool, dark place. Covered containers protect food from dust, insects or rats and coolness helps food to last longer.
Do not keep food in open tins, which can get rusty. Rather keep the food in clean plastic containers with lids.
Keep food storage and preparation places clean and tidy.
Prevent human and animal faeces from getting into water.
Keep chickens away from the home. Chicken faeces carry germs and attract flies.
Avoid or prevent littering. This attracts flies, rats and other organisms which spread disease.
Information for this Activity adapted from "Facts about HIV/AIDS" and "Caring for Someone with AIDS" © M. Futter
This activity will take 2 or more group meetings to complete.
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Project skill: |
Conducting a survey on food and water safety in the community and acting on the results |
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Life skills: |
Acquiring knowledge |
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Paper and pencils for your group members to each write the
interview questions. |
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Preparation: |
Make your Workpad poster by writing the words in big letters on a sheet of the paper that are shown on the right. Save this Workpad poster to use again when doing this activity with other youth groups. |
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Why? What? Who? How? Where? When? |
Tell the youth club members that they will need to bring paper, pencils, etc.
Introduction
1. Explain to your group members that in this activity everyone will be conducting a survey on food and water safety in the community and planning action on the results.
Experience
2. Start by leading a discussion to identify areas of concern about food or water safety in the community or village. Some examples could be:
Water points. Are these clean and in good condition? Are animals kept away?
Rubbish disposal. Does rubbish and litter just lie around or is it properly disposed of?
Food shops and open markets. Are these clean? Is food prepared, stored and served safely?
3. Let everyone form small teams of about 4 members and discuss how they could survey the community and identify such areas of concern. Point out that when interviewing people at these areas:
Team members should introduce themselves and explain why they are doing the survey.
They should ask permission to write down what the person says.
Teams should be sensitive about the questions asked.
Such questions should not make the person feel they are being accused. The questions should rather focus on positive outcomes, such as what the person feels the problems are and how the person feels they could be solved (better disposal services by the authorities, more rubbish drums, cool rooms or fridges at markets, etc).
The survey should be conducted in or around public areas. While it may be necessary to meet community members at their homes, questions should be about common, public areas, and not about the personal lives of people in their homes.
It is important to thank the person for their time and for sharing their opinions.
4. Explain that this survey is to be outcomes based. That is, teams will be identifying:
Areas of concern
The problems and possible solutions
Ways in which Rural Youth Club members could plan positive outcomes by taking positive action to make communities aware and get them to make changes
5. Lead a discussion about how the teams will do their survey and what results they hope to get.
Explain that it does not matter if more than one team identifies the same areas, because different views offer more chances for problem solving.
Encourage them to set goals and objectives. This is important for planning.
6. Discuss and decide on a date for the next meeting for the teams to present their surveys.
Process
7. Begin this session by giving each team 10 minutes to present the results of their survey.
8. Put up your Workpad poster for this activity and explain that these are the 6 Magic Words for planning any course of action. Everyone should use these words, whether we are going to buy groceries, writing a letter to a friend or in this case, planning what can be done to solve food and water safety problems in the community. Explain that:
WHY? Means our reason for taking action: a food and water safety problem area.
WHAT? Is what kind of community or other awareness action can be taken.
WHO? Means who should the awareness be aimed at or WHO will be taking action.
HOW? Is the action going to be taken (examples: a poster campaign, writing letters to authorities or newspapers, phoning radio chat shows, etc).
WHERE? The place or places where the action will take place.
WHEN? Is the date or time in which the action should happen. This should be realistic and members should think about all that needs to be done, including getting materials or contacting necessary people.
Apply
9. Let everyone discuss the data or information collected in their survey and think about what they could do in and around their communities to solve problems and promote Food Safety as part of their work with Nutrition.
Ask them to think about the 6 Magic Words in planning actions. For example, if they decide on a poster campaign:
WHY? Because posters are something Youth Club members can do well and posters can be easily seen in lots of public places.
WHAT? Is the message that must be on the posters? WHAT materials are needed?
HOW? Will everyone go about making their posters and arrange for the finished ones to be displayed? HOW many posters are needed?
WHO will make them and collect the materials, WHO will put them up and WHO are the posters aimed at? WHO needs to be asked permission to put up the posters?
WHERE will the posters be put up in the community?
WHEN must the posters be finished and WHEN will the group members put them up?
10. If your group members want to have a Youth In Action Food Safety Campaign as the outcome of their survey and their recommendations, encourage them to do this as a following part of the activity.
11. Let them write down the 6 Magic Words to help them remember when planning their campaign.
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Remember to tell your group members that when they use old food containers or other pieces of rubbish for making artwork, they should ALWAYS make sure that these items are properly cleaned before working with them. |
This Activity has been adapted from the paper "Communication Essentials in Poster Development", M. Futter, pub. SADC-REEP, "Resource Materials Development" 2001
Community awareness is a very important part of changing attitudes and habits. This poster is an idea for what can be done by Youth Club members in their efforts for improving nutrition and Food Safety.
