 We're here with another member highlight and this one focuses on the city the public health portion of the city I'm here with Tom Williams and he teaches a course as a health inspector called surf safe And I understand that that is a course that people in the food industry have to take you describe a little bit at what It's all about. Yeah, it's a it's a food safety certification course that folks in the food service industry take Teaches all about proper food handling food safety and such How often does somebody have to do this? It's a certification that comes with it, right? Yeah, you're certified it lasts for five years It's required by the state of Maine in the food code right now Each establishment needs to have a certified food protection manager at least one. Yes, at least one more in all hours of Operations. Yeah, and the service safe course Covers that and what kind of topics do you cover in that and that sounds like a pretty important course? Yeah, the the course covers everything from Purchasing receiving storage cooking cooling Everything all the way up to serving You're a health inspector, right? Yes inside from teaching this course. You actually go into the restaurants and inspect That's right, and you then look for the kinds of things that you teach in this course for people to do You know what what's your experience? Is it is it a really effective course that people really take it seriously when they go out and apply this stuff? Yeah, definitely people who have taken the course definitely have more background knowledge and You know a an inspection a lot of the Items that are covered in inspection are directly related to courses such as serve safe What are some of the kinds of things that you run into in in your job that that are really important for restaurants or food handlers to remember? proper You know cooking and cooling techniques storage time and temperature Abuse type things like that. I suppose a lot of times Restaurants were used food that it shouldn't be any reason why if they have it there And that is probably a big part because if it's not stored correctly it could be served with you know Damaged or right bacteria in it. Yep course will cover you know bacterial growth and foodborne illnesses sources of contamination when someone should Be excluded from working or not Basically everything that would have to do with food safety keeping food safe Sounds like a pretty involved course now when do people take the course and how long does it last what kind of a time commitment is it? The actual class itself is it's a day class 8 30 to 5 We're currently holding one class a month It's in the ground floor of City Hall. How many people can take the course at one time? It's it's really unlimited You can have up to 35 Attendees per Proctor, but we have two proctors of the City of Portland What are some of the benefits of taking the course that you offer and how much is a cost? Yep benefits for the course that we offer are That it's local, you know, it's right here in the city Right at City Hall so people don't have to travel out of town We do have Free parking at the Elm Street parking garage bring your ticket and we'll validate it The cost is kind of a benefit to isn't it? Yeah, that's pretty low cost. Yeah with the cheapest that there is right now Doing it for a hundred and fifteen dollars. That's for the course and the exam Others nearby are you know a hundred and thirty to a hundred and sixty You can also you also have the option of taking just the exam for eighty dollars Some people maybe they've taken it before and they just need to re-certify Or that they just do not have the time can show up at three thirty and just take the exam And what do they need if they're taking the course? What do they need to bring with them? Yeah, when you when you sign up You'll get the book mailed to you or you can pick it up at City Hall And so, you know ahead of time just go over the book Familiarize familiarize yourself with the information in there Some of it does require some memorization And you know with people want more information, where do they go and who do they call if they want to sign up? Yeah To a registration form you can find on Portland main gov. Just go to the public Health tab and the registration forms right there That's probably a telephone number right there that they can call. Yep. Yep call the telephone number great Well, it sounds like a great course that you're offering and I'm glad that you know There's so many restaurants in Portland. It's a very important service that you so thanks for coming in talking about it Thank you. Thanks for having me