Earn an 'A' in food safety through online Lake Co. course

Lake County health officials want to get a food safety message to every household in the county, citing improper food handling and preparation in home kitchens as a leading cause of food-borne illnesses.

This summer, the Lake County Health Department will roll out a 30-minute Web-based video offering residents a crash course on the basics of food safety.

The idea was hatched as part of the way to mark the health department's 50th anniversary this year.

"We are trying to give (the public) something relevant," health department Executive Director Dale Galassie said. "It's a public health message that we want to drive home. Many of the food-borne outbreaks that occur, they do not occur in restaurants, they occur in people's homes."

The video will act as a self-study course so people can "certify" themselves in food safety, Galassie said.

Anyone interested will be able to get the training at no cost from their home computers.

Though the details are still being fleshed out, officials envision the Web video would be a hybrid of a two-hour food safety course presently offered to food service managers and restaurants.

It may include a follow-up quiz with perhaps the ability for participants to print out a certificate.

"What we don't know is exactly how we would do it," said Anthony Smithson, the department's director of environmental health services. "We were thinking about some sort of interactive thing."

The certificate might not mean much, but the ultimate goal is to increase public education, Smithson said.

"Safe food handling at home is just as important as the assurances that we try to provide when people eat out," he said.

Also this summer, the health department will develop a special Web page allowing the public access to inspection reports of county restaurants and eateries on a daily basis.

County food sanitation inspectors would take laptop computers to these sites, allowing them to immediately post inspection reports and results to the Web.

That applies to the roughly 3,000 establishments with food service permits, including restaurants, day cares, hospitals, schools, grocery stores and gas stations.

"These are all public record right now, but it's certainly a little more difficult to get because you have to come into the office to actually look at the reports," Smithson said.

Residents could potentially sign up to receive e-mail alerts about their favorite restaurant when an inspection report is filed. They could also shop for a place to eat geographically and by type of cuisine, and map the location through the health department's Web site.