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

Create Video/Animation  

• 

Create a video pertaining to your pathogen using one 

of the following styles — documentary, newscast,  

drama, advertisement, or game show. 

• 

Develop an animated slide show or video clip using  

PowerPoint

®

 slides or clay animation. 

---

28

MIDDLE LEVEL

RESOURCES

• 

Food Safety A to Z Reference Guide (See the  

following terms — Bacteria, Farm-to-Table Continuum, 

Foodborne Illness, Four Steps to Food Safety, and 

Pathogen — refer to The 12 Most Unwanted Bacteria 

reproducible list.) 

• 

Dr. X and the Quest for Food Safety video  

Module 1 — Understanding Bacteria 

• 

Websites: 

Cells Alive: www.cellsalive.com 

CDC:  www.cdc.gov/foodsafety  

          www.cdc.gov/ncezid/

The FDA Bad Bug Book: www.fda.gov/badbugbook  

Iowa State University Food Safety Project:  

www.extension.iastate.edu/foodsafety

FDA’s Fact Sheet: Foodborne Illnesses –  

What You Need to Know:  

www.fda.gov/Food/FoodborneIllnessContaminants/ 

FoodborneIllnessesNeedToKnow/ucm103263.htm

Microbe World/American Society for Microbiology: 

www.microbeworld.org 

Partnership for Food Safety Education: 

www.fightbac.org 

EXTENSIONS

• 

Be on the lookout for reports about your pathogen in local 

newspapers, on TV news reports, and on the Internet. 

These newsworthy reports can be added to your food 

safety portfolios. 

• 

Check out classroom and outreach activities from the 

American Society for Microbiology at: www.asm.org/ 

index.php/educators/k-12-classroom-activities 

MODULE 1:

 UNDERSTANDING BACTERIA

UP NEXT 

Put on your boots! We’re going to the farm 

with Dr. X to meet his scientist friends who  

will introduce us to the first step in the 

Farm-to-Table Continuum. 

THE 12 MOST UNWANTED BACTERIA

A pathogen is any microorganism that is infectious and 

causes disease. There are bad bacteria (pathogens), 

such as the 12 Most Unwanted Bacteria, that cause 

foodborne illness. However, not all bacteria are bad. 

Good bacteria, such as those found in foods like yogurt 

and pickles and those in antibiotics like Streptomycin, 

are helpful to us. 

SUMMARY