How safe is school cafeteria food?

According to food inspection reports on the city’s website, Cairine Wilson Secondary School and St. Matthew Catholic High School have been non-compliant when it comes to correct food temperatures.

On Feb. 11, St. Matt’s was found to have “critical” food safety issues when items stored in the refrigerator were not held at the right temperature. According to the report, the problem was corrected during inspection.

Cairine Wilson, meanwhile, was slapped with two non-compliant notices for the same offence. On Feb. 11 the inspector noted food was not being cooked to a minimum internal temperature. That was corrected during the inspection; however, on March 25 another report suggests the inspector discovered the same problem.

Rachelle Vroom, district manager for Aramark, the company that runs Ottawa-Carleton District School Board high school cafeterias, indicated surprise when she was informed Cairine Wilson had been slapped with two non-compliance inspections, noting she was not aware of the reports.

She said employees are required to keep internal temperature logs to ensure food is thoroughly cooked. The logs, she explained, have been maintained since March, although they “should have been kept all along.”

To reduce the risk of food-borne illness all food is pre-cooked, with the exception of ground beef, Vroom said, adding Aramark requires food be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit while the standard is 160.

Vroom, who was at Gloucester High School’s cafeteria reviewing temperature logs while speaking on the phone, said Aramark has its own internal audit system for health and safety and spot checks are conducted on a regular basis.

It’s “bizarre” the cafeteria at Cairine Wilson was found to be non-compliant twice in a row, Vroom said, adding she would be heading to the school to conduct a health and safety audit.

According to Siobhan Kearns, manager of environmental health, community and protective services, the second non-compliance inspection is a mistake.

She explained during the initial inspection in February, the inspector noted the burger patties were “maybe” a degree or two lower than required. The cooks were instructed to put them in the oven for another five minutes for safety reasons, which they did, fixing the problem during inspection.

“Temperature issues are critical,” Kearns said. “If there is temperature abuse, we will, on the spot, discard the food.”

The grease trap, however, posed a non-critical problem that was not immediately corrected, Kearns explained. As such, an inspector returned in March to see if the problem had been fixed. The issue was addressed, but the data from the past inspection was automatically carried over by the new auditing software, Kearns indicated, noting the glitch will have to be corrected.

“The inspector went right down to the grease trap, because that was all she was there to see,” Kearns said. “There wasn’t even any food prep taking place at the time she was there.”

While temperatures were not checked during the follow-up inspection, Kearns noted Public Health has reports on the Cairine Wilson cafeteria dating back to 2004 and inspectors have never before found a deficiency.

Now that food premise inspections are online, Kearns indicated inspectors will aim to revisit non-compliant establishments within three business days to update information on the website.

A third inspection, dated April 23 – following initial calls from the Star – shows Cairine Wilson is now in compliance.

Food inspections reports conducted

after Jan. 1, 2009 can be found at ottawa.ca