HEALTH MODULE FOR
GRADE 4 LEARNERS
This module is intended for Grade 4
learners and can be answered with the
help of parents, siblings or guardians. It
contains two lessons:
• Food Labels
• Food Safety
ICON GUIDE
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module that are to be read with the
learner
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Lesson 1: Food Labels
Content overview and objectives 2
Let’s get started 2
Show me 3
Let’s read and learn 4
What have we learned so far 5
Let’s read and learn 6
Show me 7
Lesson 2: Food Safety
Content overview and objectives 9
Let’s read and learn 9
What have we learned so far 11
Let’s read and learn 12
What have we learned so far 14
Now try this 15
1
LESSON 1
FOOD LABELS
CONTENT OVERVIEW OBJECTIVES

In this lesson, you will learn about the
importance of reading food labels.
1. Reading and understanding food labels
can help consumers make better choices
about the products they buy and
consume.
2. Labels tell consumers whether a food
product provides the essential nutrients
and the number of calories, fats, sodium
and sugar per serving. Understanding
this information can help consumers
track their nutrient and calorie intake and
control their portions.
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. Explain the importance of reading food
labels.
2. Describe the information that can be found
on a food label.
3. Compare food labels to make inferences
about a product’s nutrition content.
In this lesson, we will learn to:
Choose Nutritious Manage
and Varied Options Portions

3. Labels protect consumers against

misleading advertisements since these
reveal the actual nutritional properties of
a food product.
4. Labels also provide consumers with the
product’s shelf life or until when it is safe
to consume.

LET’S GET STARTED

Look at the two pictures of food below. Which do you think is more nutritious? Why do you think so?

cupcake
Between the two food items, which one do you think contains:
• more sugar?
whole wheat
• more salt? bread
• more calories?

How would you know if a food item has more sugar or more salt? How would you know if a food item
has more calories?

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Grade 4 Lesson 1 - Food Labels

It is important for us to choose food that will help

our bodies grow big and strong, and give us the
energy needed to last the day.

When we eat fruits, vegetables, meat and milk in the

right portions, we know that our bodies are getting
much needed nutrients. But what about food that
is contained in plastic containers, sealed bags, or
boxes?

Most food products are contained in packaging that have food labels. Food labels are the primary
means of communication between the manufacturer (the company that made the food) and the
consumer (us). The manufacturer gives an idea of what is included in the food we are eating. Food
labels have information about the food’s ingredients, its nutrients, and its shelf life.

SHOW ME For this lesson, you will need some sample food labels. Get some food
products that have labels like the one you see here. You will look at and
compare your labels as we go through this lesson.

Let’s look at this label. Find these words and circle them:

• Serving Size • Sugar

• Number of Servings • Protein
• Energy / Calories • Vitamin C
• Fat • Vitamin B6
• Saturated Fat • Vitamin B12
• Trans Fat • Vitamin D
• Cholesterol • Iron
• Sodium • Calcium
• Carbohydrates • Phosphorus
• Dietary Fiber • Ingredients

Now look at your own food labels. Choose one

and see if it contains all the information listed
here. Place a check mark beside the information
that can be seen on your label.
• Serving Size • Sugar
• Number of Servings • Protein
• Energy / Calories • Vitamin C
• Fat • Vitamin B6
INGREDIENTS: Milk powders
(Skimmed milk, Whey), Malt
• Saturated Fat • Vitamin B12
Extract (Barley, Starch), Sugar, • Trans Fat • Vitamin D
Vegetable oil, Cocoa powder, • Cholesterol • Iron
Minerals (Calcium carbonate, • Sodium • Calcium
Dicalcium phosphate, Disodium
• Carbohydrates • Phosphorus
phosphate, Iron pyrophosphate,
Vitamins (C, B3, B6, B2, D, B12). • Dietary Fiber • Ingredients

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Grade 4 Lesson 1 - Food Labels

LET’S READ & LEARN

Understanding food labels is important because
it helps us to choose nutritious and varied
options. Food labels also help us know healthy
portion sizes and protect us against misleading
advertisements.
This is how to use the information on a food
label in order to make healthy food choices.

The first thing to look at is serving size and

servings per container.
• Serving size is the recommended amount of
food for one person.
• Serving per container pertains to the total
amount of servings in an entire container or
pack.
When you look at all the other information on
the label, it is based on this serving size, as you
will see below.

Food labels also provide information about

calories. Calories refer to the amount of energy
that can be obtained from the food product.
The amount of calories you get from a product
is also related to its serving size.
For example, there are 94 calories in 24 grams
of this product. If you consume 48 grams of
this product (twice the serving size), you will
actually be getting 188 calories.

You should also look at the nutrient information

INGREDIENTS: Milk powders
(Skimmed milk, Whey), Malt
Extract (Barley, Starch), Sugar,
Vegetable oil, Cocoa powder,
Minerals (Calcium carbonate,
Dicalcium phosphate, Disodium
phosphate, Iron pyrophosphate,
Vitamins (C, B3, B6, B2, D, B12).
on the Nutrition Information Panel or Nutrition
Facts. This will tell you how much of these
nutrients are in one serving:
• Protein
• Carbohydrates (including sugar and fiber)
• Fat (including saturated fat and trans fat)
• Vitamins and minerals

The information on the nutrition panel helps us to also check whether any claims about the
product are true or not. For example, if a product claims to have vitamins and minerals on its
packaging, but no information about vitamins and minerals on the Nutrition Information Panel,
then those nutrition claims should not be believed. If the product claims to aid in weight loss, but
is high in calories, and high in sugar and fat content, then you know that the weight loss claim
should also not be believed.

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Grade 4 Lesson 1 - Food Labels

Food labels should also contain the following information:

• Expiration date describes how long the food will remain safe to eat. We should not eat the
food past its expiration date.
• Directions for use tells us how to prepare and serve the food properly.
• Storage condition describes how to store the food to maintain its nutritional quality, especially
when the product needs special storage conditions like freezing or refrigeration.

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED SO FAR?

Look again at your own food labels. Choose one that you can cut out and paste in the space
provided. (You can also take a picture of your label and print it out.) Fill in the values below based on
your sample label.

Serving size
(paste your label here)
Servings per pack
Calories in one serving
In one serving:
Carbohydrates
Sugar
Fiber
Fat
Saturated fat
Trans fat
Cholesterol
Sodium

List down the other vitamins and

minerals in this product and their
corresponding amount in one
serving:

Directions for use:

Expiration date:
Storage condition:

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Grade 4 Lesson 1 - Food Labels

LET’S READ & LEARN

Now that you know how to read a label and

what information is important, let’s learn how to
assess whether a product is nutritious based on
the label information.
Look for saturated fat and sodium/salt. If these
values are too high, you will want to avoid or
limit intake of that product. Ideally:
• Saturated fat should be less than 1.5 grams
There should be NO trans fat
• Sodium/salt should be less than 120 mg

Next, look at % RENI which stands for

Recommended Energy and Nutrient Intake.
This describes the amount of nutrients a person
will get from consuming one serving of the food
product. It shows how much of the daily energy
and nutrient requirement is provided by one
serving of that product. The higher a product’s
RENI is, the more it meets the amount of that
nutrient that your body needs.
INGREDIENTS: Milk powders
(Skimmed milk, Whey), Malt
Extract (Barley, Starch), Sugar,
Last, we should look at the list of ingredients Vegetable oil, Cocoa powder,
to know what is in our food. Minerals (Calcium carbonate,
Dicalcium phosphate, Disodium
Did you know that it’s important to see the phosphate, Iron pyrophosphate,
order of ingredients in a food label? The Vitamins (C, B3, B6, B2, D, B12).
ingredients are listed in order from the most
to the least amount. If milk is listed first, then
milk is its main ingredient.

By looking at the first three ingredients on the ingredient list, we will know what that
product consists mostly of, and we can make good nutrition decisions based on that.

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Grade 4 Lesson 1 - Food Labels

SHOW ME Compare these labels. Choose which one is describing the more nutritious
product. Explain your answer in the space below.

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Grade 4 Lesson 1 - Food Labels

Now compare these two. Choose which one is describing the more nutritious product. Explain your
answer in the space below.

Remember, in order to make good food choices, we need to read and understand a product’s label.
This will help us achieve two very important Healthy Habits:

Choose Nutritious and Varied Options. Healthy children eat a nutritious, varied diet because it
contains all the essential nutrients needed to give energy, support growth and maintain health.
Understanding the food label is an important step toward making nutritious and varied
options.

Manage Portions. Our meals should always have carbohydrates, protein, vitamins and minerals
in the right portions. Knowing the nutritional content of the product by understanding and
using the food label can help us in managing the right portions.

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LESSON 2
FOOD SAFETY
CONTENT OVERVIEW OBJECTIVES

In this lesson, you will learn about the By the end of this lesson, you should be able
importance of food safety habits in to:
preventing common foodborne illnesses. 1. Explain the nature of foodborne illnesses.
1. Foodborne illness is defined as any 2. Describe ways of preventing foodborne
disease of an infectious or toxic illnesses.
nature caused by the consumption of
contaminated food and water.
In this lesson, we will learn to:
2. Eating raw food, contaminated water,
spoiled animal meats and unwashed Choose Nutritious Choose to
food are among the common causes of and Varied Options Drink Water
and Milk
foodborne illnesses.
3. Signs and symptoms of foodborne
illnesses may vary depending on the
specific kind of foodborne illness, but
someone who is sick might experience
generic signs and symptoms such as
upset stomach, abdominal pain, diarrhea,
fever, headaches and vomiting.

LET’S READ & LEARN

In this lesson we will learn about foodborne illness. A
foodborne illness is any disease of an infectious or
toxic nature caused by the consumption of unsafe
food and water. In other words, a foodborne illness is
a sickness that one gets from eating food or drinking
beverages that are contaminated with harmful
bacteria or toxins.

How does one get sick with a foodborne illness? There

are many causes of foodborne illnesses. Here are just a
few.

Causes of Foodborne Illness

Eating raw food or food that was not cooked properly

is one cause of foodborne illness. Raw food may
contain bacteria that can cause you to become sick.

Drinking contaminated water can also lead to

foodborne disease. Drinking water that is infected with
bacteria or harmful microorganisms can cause you to
become sick.

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Grade 4 Lesson 2 - Food Safety

Eating spoiled animal meat is also a cause of foodborne illness. The bacteria that is formed in the
animal meat is strong enough to make a person sick, if that bacteria is consumed or eaten.

Eating unwashed food means eating ready-to-eat food like fruits and vegetables without washing
them first (e.g. apples or lettuce). Aside from the bacteria present on their surface, these food may
also have residues of toxic pesticides or insectides, hence the need to wash.

Using dirty utensils and cooking equipment or eating with dirty hands can also contaminate food.

Lastly, leaving food exposed can also be a cause for contamination. Food that is left exposed can
attract insects and rodents. These insects and rodents bring microorganisms that can contaminate
food.

Signs and Symptoms of Foodborne Illness

There are several symptoms for foodborne illness.

The more common ones are abdominal pain, diarrhea,
fever, headache and vomiting.

Abdominal pain refers to pain in the area near the

stomach. This may vary in degree or level of pain.
Sometimes this can be a slight, tolerable pain, but
sometimes this can be extremely painful.

Diarrhea is an infection in the internal organs mostly from bacteria, germs and parasites. You may
experience loose bowel movements from eating contaminated food and drinking contaminated water.

Fever is when your body has a higher temperature than normal. Headache can also be associated
with it. Having a foodborne illness may possibly trigger a headache and/or fever.

Vomiting is when your body forcefully discharges the contents of your stomach. It is your body’s
way of trying to get rid of something harmful that has entered your stomach.

Remember that these symptoms are also symptoms

of other illnesses, so if you experience these signs
and symptoms do not assume right away that you
have a foodborne illness. It is best to consult a
doctor, medical professional, or health worker if these
symptoms persist.

When these symptoms are experienced, be mindful to

have it checked by a healthcare professional so that it
will not worsen. Better yet, you can prevent these from
happening to you.

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Grade 4 Lesson 2 - Food Safety

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED SO FAR?

Answer as many of the questions below as you can without looking for the answers on the previous
pages. When you are done, go back to pages 9 and 10 to look for the answers that you were not able
to recall on your own.

What are foodborne illnesses? ________________________________________________

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Define the following terms.

Infectious _________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Toxic _____________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Contamination _____________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

Describe some causes of foodborne illnesses in the space below. Look for pictures in
magazines or on the internet that illustrate some of these causes. Cut out and glue, or
copy/paste the images on a separate sheet of paper to be submitted with this module.
___________________________________________________________________________
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___________________________________________________________________________
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___________________________________________________________________________

Describe some signs and symptoms of foodborne illness.

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___________________________________________________________________________

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Grade 4 Lesson 2 - Food Safety

LET’S READ & LEARN

What is prevention? Prevention is the action of
stopping something from happening or arising. There
are several ways to prevent foodborne illnesses.

We can prevent foodborne illnesses by focusing on

the environment and keeping the environment clean.

Make sure that kitchen equipment and utensils are

clean because many foodborne illnesses come from
touching something that is dirty.

Kitchen towels should be properly washed and dried.

They can be a breeding ground for bacteria and toxic
microorganisms.

We should also avoid having raw and cooked food

come into contact with each other. They should be
separated. We should not use the same cutting board
or container without properly washing it. This avoids
bacteria from forming and contaminating food.
We should have separate cutting boards for raw
food and cooked food. This also avoids the contact
between the two of them.

We can also prevent foodborne illnesses by focusing

on ourselves and our behaviors.

We should wash our hands before and after helping

in the kitchen, touching raw food and eating food. It
is better to use antibacterial soap to aid in fighting
the bacteria.

We should also wash our hands after using the bathroom, touching animals like pets, playing,
coughing and sneezing and touching money. These things are all sources of bacteria and we
should wash our hands to eliminate any bacteria that might have come into contact with our
hands.

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Grade 4 Lesson 2 - Food Safety

Whenever we cook, we should always wash our food

beforehand, whether fruits, vegetables, meat or fish.
Washing can initially remove bacteria, but the way
to totally remove bacteria in food is to cook the food
properly. At a certain temperature, these bacteria will
not be able to survive. That’s why we should always
wash and cook our food properly.

Have you ever experienced having excess food that

you are unable to eat? We should consume all the
food we prepare or buy. If we are not able to finish all
our food, we should know how to store them properly
so that it will not spoil. Bacteria multiplies as soon
as we leave food on our table, so food must not be
left there. We can put food in a clean container and
refrigerate it.

We need to protect our food from insects, rats and

other animals that carry bacteria and microorganisms
which may cause foodborne disease. After eating, we should store food in clean containers
somewhere that animals will not reach.

We often reheat food that comes from the refrigerator, but we must reheat it properly. Reheating
can also kill bacteria that was formed in the food, even while it was kept in the refrigerator.

As discussed in our previous lessons, many food

items have packaging and labels. Food labels contain
an expiration date. This will help us know whether
we can still eat the food or not. Food that is past its
expiration date will likely have bacteria and should no
longer be consumed.

We should only use clean water for cooking and

drinking. Bacteria and harmful microorganisms in
water can also contaminate our food, making it unsafe
for consumption.

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Grade 4 Lesson 2 - Food Safety

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED SO FAR?

List down as many ways to prevent foodborne illnesses as you can recall, without looking at the
previous pages. Describe them in the spaces below and once you are done, go back to pages 12 and
13 to look for the answers you were not able to recall on your own.

PREVENTION OF FOODBORNE ILLNESSES

______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
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___________________________________________________________________________

These are the Healthy Habits related to this lesson:

When we say ‘Choose Nutritious and Varied Options’ that doesn’t just mean eating
a variety of Go, Glow and Grow food. This also means making sure that our food is
nutritious by ensuring it is clean and safe to eat.

Also, when we ‘Choose Water’ we should make sure that our water is clean and safe to
drink to avoid food borne disease.

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Grade 4 Lesson 2 - Food Safety

NOW TRY THIS

Observe the kitchen and dining area of your home during meal preparation and meal time. Look for
conditions where your family may be at risk for catching foodborne illness and suggest actions that
you can take to prevent it. Some examples are provided.

POSSIBLE CAUSE OF FOODBORNE ILLNESS HOW TO PREVENT FOODBORNE ILLNESS

Example: Nanay places the bags of Place the bags of raw meat in a clean plastic container instead of
raw meat on the dining table when directly on the table.
she arrives from the wet market. Wipe the table after storing the raw meat.

Example: We forget to wash our Remind each other to wash hands before coming to the dining
hands before meal time. area.

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