The Kings County Department of Public Health’s Division of Environmental Health Services has announced the Food Safety Silver Star award recipients for calendar year 2015. The program was developed by the Division in 1996 and revamped in 2011 to give positive recognition to those food establishments within Kings County that consistently exceeded requirements with regard to public protection from food-borne illness risks.
Receiving the award in Corcoran was the Corcoran High School snack bar, John C. Fremont Elementary School, Kings Drive-In, Little Caesar’s Pizza and Bret Harte School.
Facilities eligible for an award are those that participate in food service preparation to the public. Eligible types of establishments include restaurants, deli operations (either stand alone or at retail markets), school cafeterias which prepare their own food, and bakeries. Award winners must meet specific criteria in order to be selected for the award. The following criteria must be met to receive the award:
–The facility must receive a Pass rating on all food safety evaluations performed by the Department during the prior calendar year.
–The managers and key food handling personnel must understand and consistently implement advanced food safety concepts such as HACCP (Hazard Analysis – Critical Control Points) in their daily operation.
–The facility has instituted an ongoing internal self-evaluation program.
–An electronic thermometer is used for monitoring internal food temperatures during final cooking, hot holding, cooling, and refrigeration processes at the facility to ensure State mandated food temperatures are met.
–No confirmed complaints on the establishment relating to food-borne illness outbreaks or food handling practices that could lead to a possible food-borne illness outbreak occurrence.
Certificates and window recognition stickers were presented to representatives of the selected food establishments at the Kings County Food Advisory Committee meeting, which was held last month.
More information about the program or the list of recipients of the award can be obtained on the website at www.countyofkings.com/health/ehs/ or by contacting the Kings County Department of Public Health at 559-584-1411.
