Jun 11, 2007 9:01 am US/Eastern
Health Violations At 1/3 Of N.H. School Cafeterias
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) ―
From no hot water at hand-washing sinks to milk served too warm, inspectors found serious health violations at one in three school cafeterias in the southern part of New Hampshire.
In Derry, all nine school cafeterias had at least one critical violation, but none scored so low overall that it had to be closed. Derry's cafeterias scored an average of 89 on a scale where 100 is perfect and 70 requires immediate closure.
In other districts surveyed by The Eagle-Tribune, 15 of 42 cafeterias got perfect scores.
Debra Scoville, a part-time health inspector for Derry, said residents shouldn't be too alarmed based on scores alone.
"A score isn't indicative of the quality of the establishment; they can still put out a good quality service," she said. "People in the public, they're the worst because they think of cafeteria ladies that don't wear gloves. It's not like that. They wash their hands, they wear hairnets or tie their hair back."
The town's food service director, Susan Brousakas, said the newest cafeteria scored the worst. At Ernest Barka Elementary School, which opened in 2005, one sink lacked hot water, a dishwasher was malfunctioning and milk was stored at higher temperatures than recommended.
Eleven state employees inspect most cafeterias around the state, but 17 towns -- including Salem, Plaistow and Derry -- hire their own inspectors.
In Salem, inspector Brian Lockard makes surprise visits twice a year to each of the district's eight cafeterias, looking for evidence of rats or mice, checking freezer temperatures and watching workers prepare meals.
Lockard said the cafeterias are generally well-run: The lowest score this year in Salem was a 98 at North Elementary School, because one of the milk coolers was 4 degrees too warm.
Salem food service director Barbara Schultz said every cafeteria worker in the district attends food safety training twice a year, but occasionally equipment malfunctions.
Plaistow health officer Dennise Horrocks agreed that equipment failure -- not employees -- causes most problems. And schools have tight budgets, so it's sometimes hard to find the money to fix a problem immediately.
"I don't think all administrations think about food service when they think about the budget," she said. "They think, 'We need more teachers, more classrooms,' and not that we need to feed these kids, too. ... The cafeteria staff does a phenomenal job with a short amount of resources."
Dishwashers that don't produce water hot enough to kill bacteria are one of the most frequent -- and expensive -- culprits, inspectors said.
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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