SC - Food Handlers Licence

[Micaylah]

LYN M PARKINSON wrote:

> Furthermore, where does one go to get that?  I don't know.  I live in a
> big city now, so there is probably one available to me, but what about
> all the small towns?  And not everyone can afford to take a class,
> whatever the cost.  If only one person took the class, would that person
> have to be in the kitchen every event?  What about their feeling of
> responsibility if something slips past?
>
> Tell us where to go to find these classes.  Some of us may decide, quite
> on our own, to do it just to be better in the feast kitchen, but let's
> not make it required.

I don't think anyone suggested it should be a requirement to have the
certification. Lots of people said cooks ought to consider getting the training
that is usually a part of such certification, but I don't think any one of us
on the list is insensitive to the desire to avoid excessive governmental or
other regimentation. The point is only that people should learn how to avoid
cross-contamination between potentially dangerous foods, how to recognize when
a food is cooked or chilled to a safe temperature, how to clean properly, etc.

One of the things I don't believe anyone has mentioned is that it might be
helpful to be able to recognize the more obvious health violations that we
occasionally run across on site at events, which we may or may not be able to
do anything about. Potentially harmful issues might include badly designed
plumbing (which a good food handling course will go into) or refrigeration, or
fridges with stuff belonging to the site packed in a dangerous way (like, say,
drippy raw chicken on the top shelf). This is the type of stuff one rarely
learns from one's mom, conscientious and learned though all our mothers are, I
have no doubt.

As for where one goes to get training and perhaps certification (note that I
never used the term "license") in safe food handing, if you have a local board
of health, or, for that matter, a state B.O.H. or Health Department, which
every state has in some form, so far as I know, you can contact them for
information. Ditto a local department of sanitation. Failing that, try asking
at a good restaurant, where the chef is likely to be locally certified, even if
the cooks under him/her are not, or at a local hospital. They will almost
certainly have some sort of certified dietician who could tell you how to find
a good course.

Adamantius
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com


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