La Salle County Food Service seminar set for Sept. 8

The La Salle County Health Department will sponsor the 31st Annual Food Service Seminar on Sept. 8 at Senica’s Oak Ridge, La Salle.

Registration is from 8 to 8:30 a.m. The seminar begins at 8:30 a.m. and concludes at approximately 4:30 p.m.

The program features speakers from Quik-Kill Pest Eliminators, Inc., Performance Food Service - Thoms Proestler (PFG), the Peoria City/County Health Department, the La Salle County Health Department, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Cintas Corporation and OSF Healthcare.

Topics include pest control, chemical hazards and safety in the food service industry, public health emergencies in a food establishment, history of food safety, service animals and food establishments, IDPH program updates and plumbing in food establishments

September is National Food Safety Education Month. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that annually, 48 million people in the U.S. – roughly one in six Americans – contract some form of food-borne illness.

Of those cases, 128,000 lead to hospitalization, and an estimated 3,000 deaths annually are attributed to food-borne illness.

Foodborne illness is preventable when following the basic safety guidelines: clean, separate, cook and chill.

To pre-register for the food service seminar, please call the La Salle County Health Department at 815-433-3366 or visit www.lasallecountyil.gov.

For more information on food safety, visit the CDC website.