NEWS BREAK

Article: Is it really a burger if it doesn’t have any meat? Europe ponders

Section: MAIN, A2

Sunday's News Break selects an article from Sunday, April 7, 2019, of The Seattle Times print replica for an in-depth reading of the news. Read the selected article and answer the attached study questions.

You are encouraged to modify this lesson to fit the needs of your students. For example, some classrooms may be able to use this as a worksheet and others might need to ask and answer the questions in a small group or larger, class discussion.

*Please be sure to preview all NIE content before using it in your classroom to ensure it is appropriate for all of your students.

Standards:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.1

• Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.2

• Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text.

Objectives:

Students will discuss whether their family eats meat at most meals or whether their family tries to limit meat intake and why. They’ll discuss having tried alternative plant-based “meats” and what they thought of the taste and texture. Students will debate whether they think alternative meat companies shouldn’t be able to use the terms meat, steak, , and and whether it’s truly confusing some consumers. They’ll discuss whether they think the meat industry is causing problems for those preferring vegetarian diets? Was there consumer demand for this change? They’ll also talk about why many people are turning to a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle and what does the current health research say about limiting meat in your diet?

Pre-Reading Discussion:

• What do you think the article will be about? Are there clues in the picture? • What can you infer?

Vocabulary Building:

Read this sentence, what do you think the highlighted words mean using context clues? A context clue is a word or words that are hints and refers to the sources of information outside of words that readers may use to predict the identities and meanings of unknown words.

“Perhaps worried that you might be confused, some epicures at the European Parliament have proposed a new rule: If a product does not contain meat, it cannot be called a burger or a sausage or a steak.”

Write your guess and then look up the definition and write it below your guess. How close did you come to the correct definition?

Epicure Guess:

Epicure Definition:

Comprehension Questions:

1. Perhaps worried that you might be confused, some epicures at the European Parliament have proposed a new rule: If a product does not contain meat, it cannot be called what? 2. The proposed amendment was passed by the body’s agricultural committee last week as part of a voluminous revision of the European Union’s (EU) what? 3. Eric Andrieu, a French Socialist member of the European Parliament, introduced the proposal, but suspicions remained that the ______lobby was behind the idea. 4. Environmentalists said the suggested labeling rules were an effort to undermine what? 5. Andrieu, who could not be reached to comment, told The Guardian that the meat lobby had nothing to do with the amendment and that he was attempting to add some ______to food labeling. 6. Some news accounts of the proposed rule reported on a search for new names, included what? 7. producers were the first to claim that competitors selling plant-based foods were using misleading labeling such as “ ______” or “veggie ______,” and they won a 2017 ruling from the European Court of Justice that reserved the names of dairy products for foods with an animal source. As part of its vote last week, the agricultural committee added to the dairy restrictions with a rule that would ban the use of phrases like “______” or “______” for plant- based products. 8. The proposal about meat labeling was opposed by a coalition of environmental and animal-rights groups. Why? What was their response? 9. Whether the proposal is a maneuver by the meat lobby or simply an attempt by the French to assert food traditions, the proposal reflected a certain defensiveness by the meat industry as more and more people are doing what? 10. In the United States, there has been a push by the dairy industry to require the Food and Drug Administration to enforce labeling rules for milk as more Americans switch to “______,” which come from any number of plants. ( milk, anyone?)

Discussion Questions (small/large groups), Journal Prompts or Essay Questions:

• Does your family eat meat at most meals? • Does your family try to limit meat intake? Why or why not? • Have you tried plant-based “meats?” What did you think? • Do you think alternative meat companies should not use the terms meat, steak, sausage, etc.? Why or why not? • Do you think the meat industry is causing problems for those preferring vegetarian diets? Was there consumer demand for this change? • Why do you think many people are turning to a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle? What does the current health research say about limiting meat in your diet? • Do you agree/disagree that alternative food products should not contain “meat based” words that are not in the product….meat, sausage, burger, steak, milk, cheese, etc.?

News Break is posted to the Web on Monday. Please share this NIE News Break program with other teachers. To sign-up for the print replica for your class, please register on-line or call 206/652-6290 or toll-free 1-888/775-2655. Copyright © 2019 The Seattle Times Company

Newsbreak Answer Key: April 7, 2019

Pre-Reading Discussion:

Answers will vary

Vocabulary Building:

Epicure: A person who takes particular pleasure in fine food and drink. "They see themselves as epicures—delighting in food that is properly prepared."

Comprehension Answers:

1. A burger or a sausage or a steak. 2. Common Agricultural Policy 3. Meat 4. The growing demand for plant-based foods. 5. Common sense 6. “ tubes” for hot dogs and “veggie disc” for burgers. 7. /Cheese, style and butter substitute 8. “There is no evidence of consumer confusion,” Greenpeace, Humane Society International and other groups wrote in a letter dated April 1. “On the contrary, consumers purchase these items because they do not contain meat or dairy.” 9. Reducing their meat consumption 10. Alternative

Discussion Questions (small/large groups), Journal Prompts or Essay Questions: Answers will vary