College of Agricultural Sciences Cooperative Extension at Penn State University

(Formerly PENpages #29503258)

PA 4-H Food Safety Discovery Game

Updated for 2004

Developed by: Jan Scholl, Carmen Simbulan, Ekuwa Gyan, and Steve Knabel
The Pennsylvania State University, 1992

Rules of the Game:

Use the standard "Clue" game. Attach one set of 6 of these situations to the weapon cards. These will not be called "weapons" but food safety problems. Accusations will be called "discoveries." The object of the game is still the same as the original game:

  1. locate the victim,
  2. determine who the victim is, and
  3. discover their food safety problem.

To win, find the three clues that will solve this mystery. Other important considerations: Give a list of six food safety problems and the detective sheet to each player. (Cross out the weapon section in advance.) Do not use the weapons in the standard game or move the weapons or suspect into a room before making a "discovery."

  1. The victim made a sandwich from a slimy piece of meat that had been in the refrigerator for several months.
  2. The victim ate at a convention where large quantities of hot food was made ahead of time and stored in a large container in the refrigerator.
  3. The culprit was the tuna and egg sandwich that the victim ate after it sat for several hours in a sack lunch without refrigeration.
  4. That Friday afternoon, the victim went to the park to play volleyball with friends and, later, ate an undercooked hamburger.
  5. Coming home from work, too tired to cook, victim ate last night's left-over bean soup that sat on the top of the stove the whole day.
  6. The victim ate turkey handled by someone who forgot to wash their hands after using the restroom.
  1. The vegetable sticks the victim had for dinner were contaminated on a board used to cut raw chicken.
  2. The victim ate unbaked cookie dough that was made from raw eggs.
  3. The victim ate a sandwich from meat that thawed on the counter for several hours.
  4. The victim ate seafood that sat in a hot car for several hours while the suspect was talking to a friend.
  5. The victim ate pizza for breakfast that was left on the counter all night.
  6. The victim reheated a foil-wrapped baked potato that sat on the counter from the night before.
  1. After coming from school, the victim rushed to the kitchen forgetting to wash the counter before fixing a snack.
  2. In a hurry, the victim did not rotate the frozen dinner in the microwave, leaving some parts of it uncooked.
  3. The victim ate food from a bulging can.
  4. The victim returned the barbecued meat to the dining area on the same plate that held the raw uncooked meat.
  5. The victim ate runny scrambled eggs a few hours before in a restaurant.
  6. The victim ate a midnight snack left out and left over from an afternoon potluck.
  1. The victim ate food which was stored under the sink with cleaning supplies that accidentally spilled on it.
  2. The victim ate some food the family cat had wandered around

Add your own!

Contact for questions

to Jan Scholl's home page