Macon County Health Department

The goal of the food protection program is to prevent the outbreak of food-related diseases through the education of food handlers and the random inspection of restaurants and facilities which sell and serve food to the public. To ensure sanitary conditions, our staff:

• Assesses the level of risk associated with each food service facility's operation.
• Reviews plans and procedures and consults with those constructing new facilities or those remodeling existing facilities.
• Conducts follow-up inspections on violations and ensures corrective action is taken.
• Conducts inspections in emergencies such as fires, floods, power interruptions, or food borne illness outbreaks.
• Investigates complaints from the public.
• Provides training and educational materials to people who work in the food industry and other interested organizations.

     Inspections of establishments are based on a 100 point scale.  Debit points are assigned based on the category of the violation. Not all items have the same weight. Critical items are weighted at 4 and 5 points, and less serious items are weighted at 1 and 2 points. Food service establishments scoring less than 85 are re-inspected within 10 working days.  Those scoring less than 60 are subject to closure.  Critical items must be corrected immediately, or within 48 hours, unless the violations are corrected at the time of the inspection being conducted.

     Item number 45 (Management Personnel Certified) on the inspection report is a critical item, but is not weighted. All Category I establishments are required to have a person on staff that has completed and passed a state-approved course in food service sanitation at all times that food is being prepared.  Category II establishments must have a minimum of one person certified. If an establishment does not have such a person, they must do so within an allotted period of time.

     An establishment may be closed immediately and its permit suspended for violations that the sanitarian making the inspection feels may jeopardize public health and safety. Sanitarians may also close establishments for repeatedly performing poorly on inspections, or repeatedly failing to correct critical items.

      Critical items must be corrected immediately, or within 48 hours, unless the violations are corrected at the time of the inspection being conducted.

     All food service establishments are categorized according to their relative risk of causing food borne illness. Category I facilities are those with complex preparation of potentially hazardous foods. Potentially hazardous foods are foods that are high in protein, low or non-acid, and have sufficient water content to support the rapid growth of disease-causing microorganisms. These include, but are not limited to, milk or milk products, eggs, meat, poultry, fish and shellfish. Category I facilities are inspected at least 3 times a year. Category II facilities are establishments, such as fast food restaurants, having more limited preparation of commercially frozen or pre-prepared items. These are inspected at least once a year. Category III facilities, such as convenience stores, are establishments where there is no preparation of potentially hazardous foods and only commercially packaged items are sold, or only limited preparation of non-potentially hazardous foods and beverages, such as snack foods and carbonated beverages occurs at the facility, or only beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) are served at the facility. These are inspected at least once a year.

All food service establishments (except Category III facilities) are required to be under the operational supervision of a certified food service sanitation manager.  This certification is achieved by the successful completion of an IDPH approved course and examination.