Food Safety Week: GermWatch
Food Safety Week is an annual event held to promote the importance of good food hygiene in the home. This year Food Safety Week is taking place between 9-13 June and will launch the Agency's latest food hygiene campaign 'GermWatch' and its star character Grubeye.
A range of events are being run across the UK in schools, community groups and local councils, to highlight the importance of food safety and hygiene in the home and promote the 4 Cs (cooking, cleaning, chilling and cross-contamination). You can find out more about organisations running events at the link below.
To support these local events there is a range of publicity materials available, free of charge, including a school activity pack, leaflets, posters, balloons and stickers. Details of the available resources can be found below.
The GermWatch resources will be available throughout the year, so if you are planning to organise an event to promote good food hygiene, you can order posters, leaflets and other GermWatch materials by contacting FSA Publications on 0845 606 0667.
Introducing Grubeye
‘Killer fact: Outside the fridge, just 10 invisible germs can multiply to 1000 in 6 hours. Keep your family's food in a cool bag or cool box when you're eating outside.’
Grubeye is the star character in the new 'GermWatch' campaign. He revels in poor food hygiene and delights in the misfortune of those at risk of food poisoning. Nothing makes Grubeye happier than when people spread germs – maybe you forgot to wash your hands before preparing food, or perhaps you used the same chopping board for raw meat and food that was ready to eat.
'Killer Facts' are another important element in the GermWatch campaign. They warn people about the dangers of poor food hygiene and provide helpful advice to enable them to fight back against the germs.
The grotesque GermWatch star has been brought to life for Food Safety Week in ads being screened on GMTV – you can see Grubeye in action and preview the ads on eatwell.gov.uk/germwatch.
GermWatch resources
- It came from the chopping board – an A5 leaflet
- Leaflet dispenser
- Four A3 posters:
- It Came From the Chopping Board
- Curse of the Uncooked
- Horror of the unwashed hands
- Terror stalks the fridge
- Grubeye balloons
- Grubeye stickers
- Grubeye finger puppet
You can order these items from Food Standards Agency Publications at foodstandards@ecgroup.co.uk or 0845 606 0667. The leaflet and posters are also available to download at the links below.
GermWatch school resources (download only)
The following downloadable activity sheets and a teaching pack are available to help educate children on good food hygiene and help teachers incorporate food safety messages into the school curriculum:
- GermWatch word splat – search for hidden food hygiene words
- Germ Maze – find the germ on the grubby hand
- Colouring sheet – meet Grubeye and colour him in lots of yucky colours
- Primary school teaching and learning pack (also available to order from FSA Publications)
Related links
(pdf 449KB) (pdf 1MB) (pdf 93KB) (pdf 1MB) (pdf 575KB) (pdf 3MB) (pdf 467KB) (pdf 595KB) (pdf 453KB)More advice from our eatwell website
Find out more
Food Safety Week partners
A wide range of organisations have been working together for Food Safety Week by organising local activities and promoting food safety.