Local & State Headlines

Clean kitchens major part of food business

• Dougherty health officials inspect permit more than 300 food service establishments annually.

Susan McCord

ALBANY — Bo Henry had one thing in mind when designing the kitchen of his new seafood restaurant, The Catch.

“We built it all for cleanliness,” said Henry, proprietor of two Albany restaurants, downtown’s Harvest Moon and the new Catch.

The Catch’s almost entirely stainless-steel kitchen makes thorough cleaning and control of temperatures a snap.

Customers demand it of their catfish, tuna, salmon, grouper, mahi mahi and oysters.

Georgia environmental health, which issues food service permits, is particularly concerned about the oysters. The Catch and other restaurants have to keep records of where each shipment of oysters comes from and where they were harvested, Henry said.

When it’s not a trusted restaurant or mom and dad, only one agency ensures that food prepared for public consumption is free of more than 250 types of food-borne illnesses.

The Dougherty County Health Department’s seven inspectors are responsible for permitting approximately 350 food service establishments around the county, said county environmental health specialist Jim Pericaud.

School cafeterias, street vendors, caterers and temporary food service operations do not escape the department’s scrutiny: Albany High School received a 77 on its August report card.

Food to be sold may not be prepared in private homes, and food service establishments — including catering activities — may not be located in private homes, Pericaud said.

“Caterers must also have permits,” he said. “The issue is public health. Without inspections and permitting, whether food was safe to eat would be a guessing game.”

Illness may stem from many disease-causing microbes, or pathogens, as well as poisonous chemicals present in food, he said.

Even with local, state and federal regulations in place, an estimated 76 million cases of food-borne illness occur each year in the United States, said county nurse manager Cheryl Henley.

“The great majority of these cases are mild and cause symptoms for only a day or two,” Henley said.

The Dougherty County Health Department posts information about food service permitting, regulations and other services as well as health inspection scores online in the Dougherty section of the Southwest Georgia Health District Web site, www.southwestgeorgiapublichealth.org.

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