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Food and Nutrition Literacy Education

Assignment 4: Food & Nutrition Education using Social Media: Instagram Post on Food Package Claims

Fulfills the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe the concept of food and nutrition literacy, and related competencies for children and young adults.
• Analyze influences on food choice at individual, community and societal levels, including those which may promote and hinder healthy eating.
• Apply principles for using social media in healthy eating promotion.
• Describe where to find credible, evidence-based food and nutrition literacy resources.

INSTRUCTIONS:

For this assignment you will create an Instagram post for the hypothetical blog “Food Claims Decoded” with the purpose of teaching followers about potentially misleading nutrition-related information on packaged food products.  You are not creating an actual Instagram post, but will put all the requisite components in a Word or PDF document to submit.

1. Select a food product with a health/nutrition/ingredient claim on the front of package which is potentially misleading. A walk through your local grocery store will provide many choices.
2. Using your knowledge of nutrition from other courses, and the principles from this course for using social media to promote healthy eating, create an Instagram post showing:
   1. A photo of the food product with the health claim(s) visible and highlighted as misleading, i.e. someone scrolling through would readily see that you are ‘warning’ them to be cautious of the claim. Note that many products have more than one ‘claim’.  You can address up to two claims in your photo description.

You can create a double photo (side by side), with the nutrition facts table or ingredient list included, if this helps make your points.

1. A photo description (maximum 2200 characters) explaining why the claim(s) is/are potentially misleading, and at least two positive and instructive ‘tips’, to guide viewers to make modifications or healthier choices (not just ‘eat more vegetables’ but how; substitution of a healthier food; make your own instead, etc.). Include two hashtags in your 2200 characters.  What is a hashtag: https://schedugr.am/blog/everything-to-know-instagram-hashtags/

3. For this assignment, you must submit the following in a one-page, landscape view Word or PDF document (see template below – this is a guide and you do not need the headings in the boxes) that will be submitted through UM Learn. Please note that you cannot upload a file larger than 1 GB so reduce your photo size if necessary:
   • Photo(s) of the food product you are reviewing
   • Photo description (include character count)