Date: Fri 25-Apr-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

health-food-handlers-exam

Full Text:

Local `Food Handlers' Take State Health Exam

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

Representatives of 22 local food establishments gathered in the Alexandria

Room at Edmond Town Hall on Tuesday to take an exam to become certified as a

"qualified food operator."

State regulations which will go into effect on August 1 require that

businesses such as restaurants and delicatessens that cook and serve food must

employ at least one full-time supervisor who has demonstrated a knowledge of

safe food handling techniques by passing the certification exam.

Karen Rotella of C&R Hospitality Consultants of Newtington and Middlebury

presented the Servesafe Sanitation Review Course and administered the exam

under the auspices of the State Department of Public Health and Addiction

Services.

Donna M. McCarthy, environmental health director for the Newtown Health

District, arranged for the class and exam to be offered in Newtown.

Participants paid only $45 for the $90 course; half of the cost was paid by a

federal block grant which the district had received.

"I was pleased to see that we had such a good turnout," Ms McCarthy said.

"Thirty-five Newtown people attended from 22 food establishments. A few sent a

couple of their staff members."

Ms McCarthy said the participants had received a textbook which they were

expected to read and understand before taking the six-hour review class and

exam. "You don't have to take the course before taking the exam, but it

helps," she said.

Review classes and exams will continue to be offered in towns around the

state. The next will be in Waterbury on June 10. "The classes will continue

even after the August 1 deadline because new businesses are always opening,"

Ms McCarthy said.

The certification applies to food service establishments such as restaurants,

school and nursing home cafeterias, luncheonettes, delicatessens and sandwich

shops, caterers and others that cook food, then keep it hot or cold before

serving it. Establishments such as ice cream shops and convenience stores,

which do very limited cooking, are not required to have a certified staff

member.

The new regulation is part of a new state health code which also required the

licensing of "temporary" food establishments, such as those set up for the

Labor Day Parade and the St Rose Carnival.

The new code also caused the demise of the middle school's traditional

International Food Fair because it required that all the food be prepared in a

licensed kitchen under the supervision of a certified food handler, not in

home kitchens.

Bake sales, such as those held by local PTAs, are excluded from the new code,

except for the provision that neither home-canned goods nor items with custard

or cream-type fillings may be sold.