ORANGE : Cleanliness Course for Restaurants OKd

The city is about to become the county’s first to require restaurant managers to attend a course on cleanliness.

By a 4-0 vote, the City Council last week gave preliminary approval to an ordinance that will affect more than 200 restaurants citywide and make mandatory a four-hour training course to educate restaurant managers in safe and sanitary food-handling procedures.

If the ordinance receives final approval at the Nov. 13 council meeting, restaurants with more than four employees will have eight months to comply. The city will notify in writing all restaurants that are affected by the ordinance.

Each location will be required to have at least one manager on staff who has earned a certificate by passing the county course and a written exam. The course costs $20 and the certificate is valid for three years.

Mayor Don E. Smith said he first approached the county Health Care Agency with an idea for the pilot program two years ago.

“Because of my position we eat out a lot and we came across times when I practically lost my appetite� because of unsanitary conditions, Smith said.

The course will focus on health procedures like personal hygiene and keeping foods at the correct temperature, said Jim Huston, assistant director for environmental health at the Health Care Agency.

County officials will check certificates at each location during inspections that the health department conducts three times each year, Huston said.

Violations are considered a misdemeanor and will be reported to the city.

Huston said he hopes that the program will be duplicated by cities throughout Orange County.

The certification program is one way to assure the public that “when they go in (to a restaurant) they are eating safe hygienic foods handled by safe, hygienic people that know what they are doing,� Huston said.