Safe Community Meals

On Thursday, April 20, NC Cooperative Extension in Brunswick County is offering a three-hour Food Safety Workshop designed for those who serve large community meals.

All over Brunswick County, groups of people are cooking for crowds. They cook in churches, community centers and for homeowner’s associations. These meals could be fundraisers for service groups or simply social events.

Usually, everything goes OK. When cooking for crowds, however, there is the potential for foodborne illness to occur, possibly on a large scale. Cooking in large quantities is not the same as cooking for yourself or your family in your home. What you do at your house is your business. But when you’re preparing food for a large group of people, you need to be sure that you’re doing it safely.

NC Cooperative Extension in Brunswick County is offering a three-hour Food Safety Workshop for Community Meal Events on Thursday, April 20. The workshop is designed for the people who volunteer at events where food is cooked and served to a large number of people.

Topics to be discussed will include:
• Preventing cross-contamination
• Appropriate temperatures and the temperature danger zone.
• Handling leftovers
• Dealing with allergies
• Importance of cleaning and sanitizing
• Transporting foods
• Using time as a public health control
• Tips for cooking for large groups
• Personal hygiene and use of gloves
• Common “pitfalls” of community meals that could lead to illnesses

Chef John LaTour from Healthy Families Healthy Futures, Angie Lawrence, EFNEP Nutrition Educator and Cheryle Jones Syracuse, FCS Team Member and Food Safety Instructor with the NC Cooperative Extension here in Brunswick County will be the class instructors. Bobbie Johnson, REHS, Environmental Health Program Specialist with Brunswick County Health Services will be on-hand to answer questions regarding the latest rules and regulations governing food safety.

Want to go?
Food Safety Workshop for Community Meal Events
Thursday, April 20
11 am to 2 pm
Brunswick County Center of the NC Cooperative Extension, Building N at the Government Complex in Bolivia.
Registration: $10 per person.

Each participant will receive educational material, a digital thermometer and a light lunch. This program is being partially funded by the Mary Russ Family and Consumer Science Endowment at NC State. The fee can be paid the day of the workshop, but pre-registration is required and limited to the first 40 people.

Information: (910) 253-2610; brunswick.ces.ncsu.edu/