DATE:    7/23/99
CONTACT: Libby Hoyle, (864) 656-5713
WRITER:  Giles Singleton, (864) 656-3876

Finding Safe Food Outside the Home

     CLEMSON -- In the home, we take care of food safety for
ourselves. But what about the food we eat away from home? In
restaurants, schools, childcare centers and nursing homes,
Clemson University's food safety training helps keep our food
safe.
     Clemson's work in food safety has trained over 2,000 food
service operators in public facilities.
     Across the state 1,495 school food service employees have
received this training. These workers serve food to more than
385,000 children daily. 
     Using the "Serving Safe Food" curriculum developed by the
National Restaurant Association, Clemson Extension also certified
221 instructors from the food service industry, the S.C. School
Food Service, the S.C. Department of Social Services Child and
Adult Care Food Program and teachers of high school culinary arts 
programs.
     "We also offer this training for restaurant managers and
other food service supervisors," said Libby Hoyle, an Extension
food specialist.
     "We have learned from research that the two most important
food safety practices in industry settings are clean, healthy 
employees and controlling the temperature of foods," Hoyle said.
"We know micro-organisms grow fastest at temperatures between 40
and 140 degrees Fahrenheit, what we call the 'danger zone.' "
     Requirements for certification include 16 hours of food
safety course work, four hours of teacher training and passing a
national exam. Certification in Serving Safe Food means that an
individual is qualified to teach food service employees.
     Recently Clemson worked with Ryan's Family Steak Houses to
deliver a pilot satellite training for Ryan's employees in
Greenville, Columbia, Charleston and Atlanta. Hoyle and Ryan's
management personnel delivered the training via satellite, with
facilitators at each site. Clemson provided the satellite and
television links, with help from South Carolina Educational 
Television.
     "This pilot is helping us explore ways to train food
handlers that are cost-effective," explained Hoyle, who was 
one of the Clemson trainers. "Ryan's paid their workers regular
wages for the six-hour training; Clemson provided a trainer and
the technology."
     Hoyle worked with Al Squire, director of training for
Ryan's, and Pam Green, a Ryan's corporate trainer and Serving
Safe Food instructor, to put the training together and deliver
it. Participants demonstrated their knowledge in pre- and
post-exams, and developed skills like calibrating a food 
thermometer and cooling food safely.
     "The feedback from the participants indicates excitement,"
Squire said. "The interactive setting allows immediate feedback
from the trainers and from the on-site facilitators, which is
very important. This training could be considered pre-eminent for
our industry."
                         END