Science and Our Food Supply: Investigating Food Safety from Farm to Table

ADVANCE PREPARATION

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 Review Demonstration Lab Sheet: Cooking Right to 

prepare for class demonstration. 

•

 Purchase hamburger.

•

 Prepare 5 sterile Petri dishes containing  

nutrient agar. 

•

 Familiarize yourself with the proper use of a food 

thermometer. 

•

 Review Background on page 60.

•

 Make one copy of the Demonstration Lab Sheet: 

Cooking Right (found on page 65) for each student 

(optional). 

•

 Prepare 1 hamburger patty (approximately 50 grams) to 

cook as students enter the classroom. 

Note: This lab is designed as a teacher demonstration.  

If you prefer, and your school allows students to handle 

and cook raw meat in the lab, you can have students 

conduct the lab. (See the Teacher’s Guide for High School 

Classrooms, pages 68-70.)

• 

Research done by the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that 1 out of every 

4 hamburgers turns brown in the middle before it is safely cooked. Some ground 

beef patties look done at internal temperatures as low as 135° F (57° C).

• 

Less than half the U.S. population owns a food thermometer … and only 3% use 

a thermometer when cooking foods such as hamburgers at home.