Safe Plates Classes Southport-Oak Island Chamber To Host

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The NC Cooperative Extension in Brunswick County is offering the Safe Plates Food Safety Manager course to promote food safety at the food service level. Food safety is the safeguarding or protection of food from anything that could harm consumers’ health. This comprehensive course is appropriate for food service managers and supervisory staff in restaurants, hospitals, nursing homes, childcare facilities, and other food-handling establishments.

The upcoming Safe Plates classes will be held on three Mondays — Feb. 20, Feb. 27 and March 6 — from 12:30 until 4:30 pm each day. The classes will meet at the Southport-Oak Island Chamber of Commerce, 4433 Long Beach Road, Southport. It is recommended, but not required, that participants attend all three days. The registration fee is $125 per person. This includes all instruction, a Safe Plates book, and the certification exam. Participants are encouraged to bring their own snacks and beverages. Safe Plates for Food Safety Managers is a food safety certification course developed by North Carolina State University. Food service managers successfully passing the exam will meet the 2017 FDA Food Code requirement for an ANSI (American National Standards Institution) approved Certified Food Protection Manager. Managers will receive a certificate to display in their operation which will verify to the local Environmen- tal Health Department that they are in compliance. A certified person in charge (PIC) should be present at all times the establishment is in operation.

Family and Consumer Science team members from NC Cooperative Extension in Brunswick County will be the instructors for this class. A representative from the Brunswick County Environmental Health Department will also be onhand to answer questions.

Certification is provided by The National Registry of Food Safety Professionals and is based on successful completion of the course and passing a written examination. This test will be given at 2:30 p.m. on March 6.

The class and training materials will be available in English. The exam is available in Spanish, Korean and Chinese. Registrations for non-English tests or accommodations based on disabilities must be made by Feb. 1.

For more information, or to register, contact Meghan Lassiter at the Brunswick County Center of the N.C. Cooperative Extension at 910-253-2610. Checks should be made out to Brunswick County and mailed to PO Box # 109, Bolivia, and NC 28422. Pre-regis- tration is required. Seating is limited to the first 30 registered. A virtual Safe Plates Food Safety Manager training is also available. For more information, go the Safe Plates section of the NC Cooperative Extension Brunswick County website https://brunswick.ces. ncsu.edu/

ABOUT N.C. COOPERATIVE EXTENSION

N.C. Cooperative Extension is a strategic partnership of NC State University, N.C. A&T State University, USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and local governments statewide. Extension professionals in all 100 counties, and with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, connect millions of North Carolinians with research-based information and technology from the universities. Educational programs specialize in agriculture, food and nutrition, 4-H youth development, community development and the environment. Find your local center at www. ces.ncsu.edu/local-county-center.

The Wilmington Symphony Orchestra will highlight the Gullah-Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor with a new work written by story-teller singer Ron Daise and score by Steven Errante. Sankofa: Return and Get It will take audience members through the unique culture of the Gullah Geechee people who have traditionally resided in Jacksonville, NC and the sea islands of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

The concert will also feature a symphonic work by Florence Price, a Black composer whose music is enjoying a deserved revival, and performances by our High School and UNCW division winners of the 47th annual Richard R. Deas Young Artist Concerto Competition.

Concert is sponsored by: