RoundTalk

Food recalls keep piling up: is our food supply too complex?

English · A1 worksheet Based on the RoundTalk episode of

Free for classroom use. Students listen to the first 75 seconds and read the beginning of the debate, then work on the tasks. The answer key is on the last page. The panelists are fictional characters with AI voices.

Episode page
1 · Listen (first 75 seconds)

2 · Read

Host

Hello and welcome. Food is bad now. Many stores recall food. One bad food goes to many stores. Is the food system too big? Claire tracks food problems. Marcus buys food. Amelia studies food. Go.

Host

Claire, you tracked this. In July, one berry farm went bad. Now it is in many stores. How did it spread so fast?

Claire Rothstein

One supplier sells to many brands. The same berries go to Walmart. And to Trader Joe's. And to Publix. One contamination, three names.

Host

Marcus, your team pulls that food from shelves. What happens when one berry farm breaks everything?

Marcus Webb

It is very bad. On October 2 we take out three cold foods. Same berry. Three brands. My team works all night.

Host

Amelia, Claire says one farm breaks three stores. But the numbers are crazy. Why so many units now?

Dr. Amelia Chen

Same number of recalls. Four times more units. Why? Because one ingredient now feeds many brands. One supplier, many pizzas.

Marcus Webb

No. We do not know which pizzas. That is the problem.

Claire Rothstein

No, no, wait. The paper trail tells you everything. The dairy alert names pizzas in May. We can know. Companies just do not write it down.

Marcus Webb

They write it down. But on paper. My supplier sends me paper. And the FDA moves the rule to 2028.

Key vocabulary

  • recall — remove products from stores due to safety problems
  • contamination — presence of harmful or unwanted substance in food
  • brand — company name or product label
  • berry — small round fruit
  • pizza — baked dish with cheese and toppings
  • supplier — company that provides materials or products
  • ingredient — item that goes into making food
  • alert — warning about safety or health danger

Comprehension questions

  1. Why does one berry farm make many stores have a problem?
  2. What does Marcus's team do when food is bad?
  3. Why are there four times more units in recalls now?
  4. What does Claire say companies should do about the problem?
  5. Why does Marcus say they cannot know which pizzas are bad?

True or false?

  1. One berry farm sells to Walmart, Trader Joe's, and Publix. T / F
  2. Marcus's team works all night on October 2 to remove one cold food. T / F
  3. Now there are four times more units in recalls than before. T / F
  4. The FDA changes the rule to 2025. T / F

Fill the gaps

alertberrycontaminationingredientrecallsupplier
  1. Many stores   food.
  2. In July, one   farm went bad.
  3. One   sells to many brands.
  4. One  , three names.
  5. Because one   now feeds many brands.
  6. The dairy   names pizzas in May.

Discuss in pairs

  1. Is a big food system good or bad for you? Why?
  2. Should companies write down all the stores and pizzas, or is it not important?
  3. Do you think food is too complex now? What can we do?

The whole debate, free every day Students can hear the full 6-minute episode with a synced transcript in the RoundTalk app.

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Answer key

Comprehension
  1. Because one supplier sells the same berries to many brands like Walmart, Trader Joe's, and Publix.
  2. They take the bad food off the shelves and work all night.
  3. Because one ingredient now feeds many brands, so one supplier makes many pizzas.
  4. They should write down which pizzas have the bad ingredient.
  5. Because his supplier sends him paper, not digital information, and the FDA rule changes in 2028.
True or false
  1. True
  2. False
  3. True
  4. False
Gaps
  1. recall
  2. berry
  3. supplier
  4. contamination
  5. ingredient
  6. alert

roundtalk · https://www.getroundtalk.com/listen/english/a1/food-recalls-keep-piling-up-is-our-food-supply-too-complex/worksheet/