One of the great things about late spring to mid-autumn is the arrival of many festivals, craft shows, and outdoor events. Many of these gatherings include food vendors. The availability of food and drink greatly enhances the appeal of the events to those enjoying the activities. Making sure that the food and drink is safe is another responsibility of the Environmental Public Health Section of the Department of Community Health and the Environment Division of Public Health.
Temporary food facilities are regulated by the St. Charles County Food Code. In the case of a festival or large gathering, the first step is to meet with the organizers of the event. Organizers work with groups and individuals who want to have a booth at the event. The organizers are invaluable in helping our staff get information to those who want to serve food and drink. In the case of larger events, the organizers often hold vendor meetings. This provides an opportunity for our Environmental Public Health staff to talk face-to-face with potential applicants as well as providing applications on the spot. Questions can be asked and answered and potential confusion avoided.
What public health concerns are associated with festival food and drink service? Many of the concerns are identical to those involving a permanent food service facility. Food must be from an acceptable source. It must be properly stored to safeguard against contamination and pests. Potentially hazardous food (food that is capable of supporting the rapid growth of dangerous organisms if contaminated) must be kept hot or cold. Maintaining adequate hot or cold temperature is a necessity and safeguards against the rapid growth of harmful bacteria should the food be contaminated.
There are other concerns that are unique to the temporary aspect of serving food at festivals and other events. First, those serving the food break down into three main groups; those who operate a licensed food establishment in the community and are participating in the event as a business, those who are volunteers working for an organization and who are not trained operators of a food establishment, and those businesses that go from festival to festival during the season, often operating in many different states.
The first group represents food service professionals who have a permitted facility to operate out of and who know the “do’s and don’ts” of food handling and service. The third group represents individuals who usually have some of the same training as the first group but do not have a permitted fixed facility to operate out of. The middle group represents average people who do not have specific food service training and who do not have a permitted facility to work out of.
All those seeking a permit must submit a menu of what food and drink will be offered. If no potentially hazardous food is being served (for example, only soft drinks and prepackaged items not requiring refrigeration), then a permit can be issued without concern about food preparation. If potentially hazardous food is being served, in some cases a permitted commissary will be needed where food preparation takes place. This is required in order to ensure that food preparation activities, for example cutting of meat or vegetables and pre-cooking, takes place in a location with approved refrigeration, approved food preparation surfaces, approved equipment and in a facility with a kitchen only used for non-home food preparation. In other words, home kitchens are never acceptable.
An exception (variance) from the above kitchen requirement can be issued if several conditions are met. First, all potentially hazardous food must be purchased on the day that it is to be served at the event. Second, no food preparation including cutting, dicing, marinating, etc. will occur. For example, hot dogs, sausages, and meat to grill or BBQ would fit this category. Third, the operator must have receipts to show that the items were purchased that day.
In addition to foods and food preparation, there are a number of operational requirements at the event location including things like hand washing, containers for sanitizing soiled utensils, holding hot food, keeping foods cold until preparation and thermometers for checking food temperatures. Direct hand contact with foods (gloves must be used) is prohibited as are smoking and drinking in the booth.
The requirements are sometimes confusing to volunteers who do not do participate in this type of activity on a regular basis. For this reason, an Environmental Public Health Specialist is available at the time of application to sit down and walk the applicant through the process. This almost always relieves any concerns on the part of the applicant because meeting the requirements in not really that hard, even if it seems so at first glance.
As you can imagine, a lot of time is spent during the event season attending meetings of vendors, walking applicants through the process and then inspecting operations on the actual day(s) of the event. It is something that is well worth the effort when we see the many thousands of people attending the events and enjoying a day outside while participating in the unique activities and surrounded by the beautiful scenery that our county offers. And they don’t have to worry about the food served because of the behind the scenes partnership between the event organizers, the operators of food booths and the Environmental Public Health staff of the Division of Public Health.