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SCS students are food safe

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Simcoe Composite School students will be leaving their food and culture class with proper food safety certification.

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The 21 students in Amanda Van Schyndel’s Grade 11 class all participated in and passed a Food Handler Certification Program through the Haldimand Norfolk Health Unit.

The course is designed to teach people how to store, prepare, and serve food in compliance with the Food Premises Regulation under the Health Protection and Promotion Act.

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“It was pretty straight forward,” said student Xavier Ackland. “We learned a lot about general safety in the kitchen, and how to safely handle food.”

Van Schyndel said it is important for these students to have these skills before they help out at the graduation breakfast, and to be able to show their employers that they have the certification.

“Now that they know food safety they know not to leave the chicken out on the counter for too long, and all of those things, so I feel they’re going to be very safe in all of their cooking,” said Van Schyndel.

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In Ontario, food business operators need to have at least one employee with this certificate working during all hours of operation.

Kwesi Douglas, a program manager at the Haldimand Norfolk Health Unit, said the course gives the students the opportunity to consider the safety of everything they consume.

“It prepares them for summer jobs. It’s important for kids that move on and work in the food industry because it provides them with a foundation,” said Douglas.

Van Schyndel has also challenged her students to actually check the temperatures of food and food storage at fast food restaurants.

“If the refrigerator is not under four degrees I don’t want them buying food from there.”

Learning in school provides the opportunity for the students to take the information home and start a conversation about food safety with their families, added Douglas.

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The students feel like they have learned multiple lessons from the course.

“Being able to work in a kitchen and being able to cook meals for ourselves,” are some of the takeaways Braeden Hill believes he and his classmates will have from earning the certification.

“Learning how to cook things to the proper temperature, and knowing to reheat foods properly are some of the basic things that you might not know without this course,” said Elizabeth Havens, one of the students in the class.

The certification is good for the next five years. The $79 fee was waived for the high school students so they were all able to participate.

Douglas said the end goal of the course is to ensure people are being food safe and reducing the risk of foodborne illnesses.

“I would suggest taking the course because it was very helpful, it breaks things down, and having the certificate will be very helpful,” said Havens.

A schedule for future food safety certification courses is available on the Haldimand Norfolk Health Unit website.

astaylor@postmedia.com

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