Food safety in North Carolina schools

The children expertly survey the lunch line for their favorite foods. Most are quick to decide on one of the day’s specials, like chicken fajitas, cheese calzones and hamburgers, or on their favorite standby—cheese and crackers. Many students even dip into the lima beans and fresh fruit.

Most of the food is delivered to the state’s schools precooked and prepared on-site. Baucom Elementary in Wake County, for example, receives most of its food from U.S. Foods, but recently began purchasing produce from a local vendor at the Raleigh Farmers Market.

The cafeteria manager at Baucom, Renee Humphrey, orders her food two weeks in advance to coordinate with pre-assigned menus. Humphrey, who has been managing school cafeterias for six years, says there is a primary emphasis on food safety.

“We have strict guidelines that are provided to us by the health department,” she says.

Susan Reece, with Pitt County, says the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) plan was developed because of the importance of maintaining safe cafeterias in the state. As part of the plan, schools have procedures to follow and forms to fill out to make sure they are following all the proper safety procedures.

“We always tell the schools, ‘if you don’t document it [safety checks], it didn’t happen,’” Reece says. “If there were to be a food-borne illness outbreak and the forms are properly filled out, we can make sure we have managed it in the safest way possible.”

To help food service professionals in schools ensure they’re taking all the proper precautions, the Food and Drug Administration provides a questionnaire that addresses food safety. The information helps schools document food traceability protocol, which includes everything from origin, access, safety practices and action plans should there be suspicious circumstances.

“We encourage all schools to have in place certain standard operating procedures,” Reece says. “We ask every school to read over this list and have a game plan in place to ensure safety.”

In addition, the FDA also provides specific safety parameters. “For example, once the food leaves the lunch line, it’s served,” Reece says. “That helps to ensure that food doesn’t come back to the lunch line contaminated.”

Even though most of the school’s food is precooked, there are still precautions that must be taken to ensure it is prepared properly. There are guidelines for minimum and maximum cooking and storage times.

“Wake County has a rule that the food can’t be sitting out for more than 20 minutes,” Humphrey adds. “That means we’re typically preparing food in batches to make sure there is fresh food out for each wave of kids that come through the line.”

In her food service years, Humphrey says she has never had a child get sick because of food prepared by the school. “The school would be shut down if there ever was a problem,” she notes.

Regulations require that schools keep what they refer to as “dead-man trays,” which contain samples of each food that is cooked on-site. The trays are stored in a refrigerator for three days. If a child becomes sick and the food was suspect, those samples can be tested for food-borne illnesses.

If parents have a question or concern about the food served in their child’s school, Reece recommends they check the posted grade in the cafeteria. Just like restaurants across the state, schools are also required to post the grade they receive from the health department.

“It’s a great thing consumers should know about and another way for parents to check to make sure their school cafeteria is safe,” Reece says.