# Slides 1.11: Label Detective Lesson 1.11, two days. Day 1: eleven slides. Day 2: twelve slides. Build the deck from this outline. Student-facing text reads at grade 6 to 7. * * * # Day 1: Reading the evidence ## Slide 1: Do now - Look at the package on your table. Do not turn it over. - Is this a healthy food? Yes or no, and one reason. - Two minutes. Notes: Hands up for yes, hands up for no. Then: "Everything you used to decide came from the front. The front is an ad. Turn it over." ## Slide 2: The front is an ad. The back is the evidence. - A label detective reads the back first. - The back has a box the government makes every company fill in the same way. - It is called Nutrition Facts. - Same order, same words, every package. Once you can read one, you can read all of them. Image: a cereal box front with bright colors and claims next to its plain black and white Nutrition Facts panel. ## Slide 3: The label, top to bottom - Servings per container: how many servings are in the whole package. - Serving size: the amount all the numbers describe. The government sets it, not the company. - Calories: big and bold on purpose. - Then the nutrients, then percent daily value down the right side. Image: a full Nutrition Facts label, large, with letters A through G next to the parts the handout asks for. Notes: Students label the diagram on the handout as you go. Serving size first, always. ## Slide 4: Get less, get more - Get LESS of these: saturated fat, sodium, added sugars. - Get MORE of these: dietary fiber, vitamin D, calcium, iron, potassium. - Added sugars is new (2020). It separates the sugar in fruit or milk from the sugar the company put in. - Total sugars minus added sugars is the sugar that was already there. Image: the label with the "get less" lines circled in one color and the "get more" lines in another. ## Slide 5: Percent daily value - % DV means: how much of a whole day's worth one serving gives you. - Based on a 2,000 calorie day. - It is NOT the percent of the food. It is the percent of your day. - Sodium 9% DV means one serving uses up 9% of your sodium for the whole day. Notes: This is the misconception to kill today. Say "percent of your day" every time. ## Slide 6: The 5 and 20 rule - 5% DV or less is LOW. - 20% DV or more is HIGH. - Low is good for the get less list. High is good for the get more list. - Try it: sodium ______% DV on our label. Low, in between, or high? Fiber ______%? Image: a number line from 0 to 100 with 5 and 20 marked. Notes: Fill in from the poster label. Two examples out loud, then the students do them on the handout. ## Slide 7: The servings trap - The label describes ONE serving. - This bag has ______ servings. [Sal: your poster label.] - Eat the bag, multiply everything by ______. - Calories: ______ x ______ = ______. Sodium: ______ x ______ = ______ mg. Notes: Do sodium out loud. Students do calories on the handout. ## Slide 8: The Label Scavenger Hunt - Five packages at your station. Serving size first, then everything else. - Part 1: fill one row per package on the table. - Part 2: answer the six hunt questions. Every answer has a package name AND a number. - "It looks unhealthy" is not evidence. A number is. - Fifteen minutes. Notes: Clipboard checklist: reads serving size before calories; gives a number as evidence; found the 20% or more item correctly. ## Slide 9: Rotate (optional) - At seven minutes, teams move one station to the right. - Take your handout. Leave the packages. - Finish the table with the new packages. Notes: Use this slide only if you want every team to see all fifteen packages. Skip it if the room is tight. ## Slide 10: Share - One question per team. Read the answer and the evidence. - Class: was the evidence a number? - The class "most sodium per serving" and "most added sugars" go on the board and stay up until tomorrow. Notes: Leave the two numbers on the board for the Day 2 do now. ## Slide 11: Exit card - 3 parts of a Nutrition Facts label and what each one tells you. - 2 numbers from a package you read today, with the package name. - 1 question you still have about labels. - Three volunteers read one line. Notes: Sort into "got it" and "needs more." * * * # Day 2: Spot the trick ## Slide 12: Do now - A cereal box says "Made with whole grain." - Does that mean it is healthy? Yes, no, or it depends. - What would you need to see to be sure? - One minute. Notes: Most say "it depends." "Good. Today you find out what it depends on, and then you catch a company in the act." ## Slide 13: Trick 1, the serving size game - A 20 ounce bottle. The label says 2.5 servings. - Who drinks 40% of a bottle and puts it back? - The numbers look small because the serving is small. - Catch it with: servings per container. Then multiply. Image: a 20 ounce soda bottle with "2.5 servings" circled on its label. ## Slide 14: Trick 2, "natural" - The FDA has never formally defined "natural" for most foods. - So it can go on almost anything. It does not mean healthy, organic, or low in sugar. - Catch it with: the ingredient list. What is actually in it? Image: three very different packages (chips, a juice drink, candy) all with the word "natural" on the front. Notes: FDA's page "Use of the Term Natural on Food Labeling" says the agency has a longstanding policy but no formal definition. [Sal: check for a 2025 or 2026 update.] ## Slide 15: Trick 3, true but beside the point - "Fat free" on candy. Candy never had fat. Look at added sugars. - "Made with real fruit." How much? Where is fruit on the ingredient list? - "Multigrain" means more than one grain. It does not mean whole grain. Look for "whole" as the first word of the first ingredient. - Catch it with: the line the claim is not talking about. Image: a gummy snack package with "made with real fruit" on the front and an ingredient list starting with corn syrup. ## Slide 16: Trick 4, the health halo - A green package. A leaf. The word "wellness" or "fit" or "smart." - None of those is a fact. - Your brain reads the color before it reads the label. Companies know that. - Catch it with: ignore the front. Read the back. Image: two identical labels, one on a bright green package with a leaf and one on a plain package. ## Slide 17: Trick 5, three kinds of "less sugar" - "No sugar added": nothing was put in, but the food may still be full of natural sugar. 100% juice is the classic case. - "Sugar free": less than half a gram per serving. - "Reduced sugar": at least 25% less than the regular version. Which can still be a lot. - Catch it with: total sugars AND added sugars. Notes: Definitions from FDA labeling rules. The fix for all five tricks is the same: turn it over and find the line. ## Slide 18: Comparison 1, the juice aisle - Product A: 100% orange juice. Product B: an orange drink. - Both say "excellent source of vitamin C." - Fill the compare table. Circle the better choice. Name the trick on the front. - Whole container: if you drank all of B, how many grams of added sugars? Image: two cartons side by side, labels on the handout. Notes: B is 10% juice; the vitamin C is added as ascorbic acid. 8 servings x 28 g = 224 g added sugars in the bottle, about 4.5 days' worth. ## Slide 19: Comparison 2, the chip aisle - Product C: veggie straws. "Made with real vegetables. 30% less fat." - Product D: potato chips. "Made with real potatoes." - Which wins on calories? Fat? Sodium? Fiber? Protein? Vitamins? - Is either one a health food? Notes: C wins calories and fat; D wins sodium, fiber, protein, and vitamins. The vegetable in C is powder, sixth on the list, with no vitamin A or C to show for it. "Neither is a health food" is the best answer. ## Slide 20: The ad - SunBurst Fruit Bites. "Made with REAL fruit. Fat free. Excellent source of vitamin C. The healthy snack for active kids." - Here is the back of the box. [Show the label and the ingredient list from the handout.] - Write a four-sentence critique: the claim, then three pieces of evidence from the label or ingredients that the claim hides. - Frame: "The ad says ___, but the label shows ___." Image: the ad as described on the handout: a smiling kid on a soccer field holding a pouch, strawberries and oranges across the package. Notes: Model one sentence: "The ad says 'made with real fruit,' but the first ingredient is corn syrup." Ten minutes. ## Slide 21: One apple, for comparison - A medium apple: 95 calories, 4 g fiber, 0 g added sugars, 0 mg sodium. - One pouch of Fruit Bites: 90 calories, 0 g fiber, 11 g added sugars. - Same calories. Not the same food. - Grade 8 stretch: design an honest label for a snack that could truthfully say "made with real fruit." Image: a whole apple next to a small gummy pouch. ## Slide 22: Share - Three critiques read aloud. - Class: which piece of evidence was the strongest? - Would the company let this critique run as a commercial? Why not? Notes: Keep the best three critiques; they become the review slide before the quiz. ## Slide 23: Exit ticket - One product from today. - The trick on its front. - The one label line that catches it. - One sentence. Three volunteers read. Notes: The "needs more" pile decides which trick gets a review slide at the start of Lesson 1.12. Optional homework: bring an empty package from home whose front makes a claim.