The St. Mary’s County (Md.) Health Department recently praised the SIU-affiliated Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education because of the school’s “superior compliance to food safety standards among food establishments” in the county.The school received a certificate as part of a new program launched by the county to spotlight excellence in food service. “Gold Star” certificates were presented to the Paul Hall Center and to other facilities “who met the challenge of achieving superior standards for the 2007 calendar year,” according to the department.
Based on data from the county, it’s clear that the certificates were awarded only to those facilities that truly demonstrate excellence. Approximately 50 food establishments received the recognition – which equates to only about 12 percent of the more than 400 places that were eligible.
Located in Piney Point, Md., the Paul Hall Center offers entry training and numerous upgrading classes for merchant mariners. While vocational training is the school’s main focus, food service also is vitally important on a campus which typically houses hundreds of students at any given time, not to mention the instructors and staff. In fact, in some cases the training and food service are intertwined – several of the schools curriculums cover steward department functions.
“This award reflects the hard work of the trainees involved in daily sanitation classes and practices throughout their first month at the school,” noted Paul Hall Center Executive Chef John Hetmanski. “Of course, it also reflects well on our steward department upgraders. The chief cook program, for instance, is a practical application of these sanitation principles.”
Hetmanski added, “In the bigger picture, it’s important to note that Paul Hall Center students transfer the food sanitation principles to the ships as they go to sea.”
Daryl Calvano, Environmental Health Division director at the health department, commented, “The Gold Star program recognizes the conscientious efforts of food establishments, and alerts the public to restaurants that have demonstrated exceptional attention to public health safety and sanitation. We are really pleased by the leadership of these establishments who stepped up and met the standards during the inspection period. These establishments deserve to be recognized as having achieved the ‘high honor roll’ for sanitation.”
Alan Shick, food program supervisor for the county, said the program came about as a direct result of public interest. “Public inquiries about our inspection work in food services have become much more numerous in the past few years,” he stated. “Both the food establishment and the public win when high standards are achieved, rewarded and made known.”
The requirements to earn the Gold Star include no critical violations and no “temperature violations” cited during an inspection. All violations noted by an inspector must be corrected with 30 days (verified by follow-up inspection), and there must be no confirmed unsafe food handling complaints. At least one food service worker must have completed a recognized and approved food service sanitation and safety class with the last two years.
Steward department courses available at the Paul Hall Center include galley operations, certified chief cook, advanced galley operations, certified chief steward and steward recertification.
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