Materials for the lesson

Empty packages of 4 food products: milk, snack, bred, beverage. Students are asked to bring them in classroom. The teacher may change this list taking into account the food products that are most consumed by the students.

Magnifying glass

A list of ingredients dangerous to human’s health

Layout of the classroom

Phase 1, 2

The students are seated as per usual.

Phase 3

The furniture is arranged in that way to permit   the  work  in small groups.

Phase 4

Desks  become shelves of super market

Phase 1

The teacher narrates the following story:

“The notorious detective Food Co, (abbreviation for Food Controller) with his expert partners, Food Do, (Food Doctors), investigates a new mysterious case: Eagle’s Family case.

Recently,  Mr. and Mrs. Eagle are deeply worried about their son. They noticed that Young Eagle got so much weight that he can hardly fly. They believe that the guilty ones of Young Eagle’s  handicap are hidden on the selves of a big palace, called ‘Su Ma’ (Super Market).

Young Eagle also admitted that he often meets there Prince Snack, Lady Bred, King Milk and Her Majesty Beverage. Who of them are  responsible for his handicap?”

Phase 2

Students are divided into groups of 4 members. Each group choses one of the following roles: Prince Snack, Lady Bred, King Milk, Her Majesty Beverage or  Food Do. The teacher plays the role of Detective Food Co.

The group who choses the role of Prince Snack, takes all the empty packages of snacks that the students brought in classroom. The group ‘Lady Bred’ takes all the packages of bred, the group ‘King Milk’ the milk bottles and  the group ‘Her Majesty Beverage’ all the tins of fizzy drinks.

Finally, the group ‘Food Do’ is given a list of  ingredients that could be harmful for human health if they were consumed for a long time and in certain quantity  such as taste improvers, artificial coloring, chemical additives, preservatives, sugar or salt …

Phase 3

The group ‘Prince Snack’  reads the information written on the packages of all snacks  and choses the snack with the most ingredients to be the ‘Prince’.

The group ‘Her Majesty Beverage’ does the same as ‘Prince Snack’ selecting the beverage with the most ingredients to be ‘Her Majesty’.

On the contrary, the groups ‘Lady Bred’ and ‘King Milk’ chose  the bred and the milk with the fewest ingredients to be the ‘Lady’ and the ‘King’ respectively.

Phase 4

All groups  sit on the desks (shelves of ‘Su Ma’):   on one desk, ‘Prince Snack’,  ‘Lady Bred’ on another,  ‘King Milk’ on a third one and ‘Her Majesty Beverage’  on a fourth one.

 Detective Food Co visit the palace  and interrogates them. The members of the same group decide who will give the answers or everybody answers alternately consulting the elements written on the chosen package.

The group ‘Food Do’, take  notes. Example of dialogue:

Detective Food Co: Could you please tell me, King Milk,   when are you produced?

King Milk: 6 September  2017.

Detective Food Co: What is your expire date?

King Milk:  11 September 2018.

Detective Food Co: Where are you from?

Prince Snack: Larissa, Greece.

Detective Food Co: What are you made of?

Prince Snack: Cow milk.

 Detective Food Co: Do you have any preservatives?

Prince Snack: None.

The group ‘Food Do’ checks the labels using the magnifying glass to read the small print on the packages.

Phase 5

The group ‘Food Do’ announces the guilty ones.

Teacher and students discuss about the importance of reading labels before buying anything.