Cobb & Douglas Public Health will be closed on Tuesday, January 28. Please check our website for updates regarding any future delays or closures.
As you prepare for the wintry weather, please take a look at the documents listed below to help you and your family be ready for its arrival. More guidance for food service establishments may be found on the Food Service page of our website.
Cake decorations with their attractive colors–and often shiny appearances– help make celebrations even more fun; especially during the holidays. However, not all decorations are safe to eat. The Food and Drug Administration has prepared a publication entitled To Eat or Not to Eat: Decorative Products on Foods Can Be Unsafe which provides guidance to consumers to help determine if cake decorations are edible or not. In addition, this publication provides important reminders to commercial bakers that need to be adhered to in order to help keep consumers safe.
A good rule of thumb to remember is that if you can’t determine for sure if a decoration is safe to eat, then, please don’t.
Best wishes for safe and happy holidays for you and yours!
About 200 food service managers and operators have taken and passed our Employee Health and Hygiene quiz since it began in September. Please take some time to check out the growing list of foodservice establishments in Cobb and Douglas that have been designated as Employee Health Achievers on our website. While there, you can also learn how your facility can be added to the list!
S-A-L-U-T-E to our newest achievers!
The CDC is now advising consumers to not eat romaine lettuce (and restaurants and retailers to not serve or sell the product) due to ongoing concerns related to E. coli contamination. More details can be found here:
https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2018/o157h7-11-18/index.html
by Parish Divinity, EHS
As the holiday season approaches and new menu items start appearing, emphasis is again placed on the proper cooking of foods. Time and temperature control for safety foods that require cooking are considered “cooked” only after they have been heated to the minimum cook temperatures designated for the particular food item. This minimum cook temperature must be reached in order to kill harmful bacteria such as Salmonella and E. coli 0157. Color and texture alone won’t tell you whether your food is done. Instead, use a food thermometer to be verify the food’s internal temperature. When checking the temperature of food, always check the temperature in at least two locations, and at least one of those temperatures should be measured in the thickest part of the food (if applicable).
Test your knowledge by taking this short Minimum Internal Cooking Temperatures Quiz provided by ServSafe.
The excitement is building as the 53rd Super Bowl makes its way to the Atlanta Metro area. We are assisting the Host Committee of Super Bowl LIII as preparations are being made. If you are planning special activities during Super Bowl week (January 26 – February 4, 2019), please visit the Atlanta Conventions and Visitors Bureau site for event registration, filling out as much information as you can. The Host Committee will use this information to coordinate with public safety partners on traffic and crowd management.
Also, if you want to share a public event, you can post it to the Atlanta Conventions and Visitors Bureau calendar of events on the same form. Events will only be made public if you select that option when you register the event. The registration site provides a good way to advertise what you have planned.
If your plans include changing your business model and/or the addition of equipment, be sure to submit your proposal to the health department as soon as possible. In addition, the Fire Marshal’s office will need to be contacted for approval if you will be adding cooking equipment or if a change in your authorized occupancy is anticipated.
For more information, contact Food Program Manager Karen Gulley at 678-385-5066.
More than 100 individuals have scored 100% on the Employee Health and Hygiene quiz since the beginning of September when the Employee Health Achievers campaign began. Take a look at our growing list of facilities that have achieved recognition as Employee Health Achievers. Congratulations goes out to each of them!
If you’re interested in finding out the requirements for this special recognition and how to access the quiz, please visit Become an Employee Health Achiever on our website.
