Speaker 1: Welcome to the Food Safety for Festival and Event Planners Session on Facilities, Layout, and Design. I'm Deborah Botzy-Klin, Extension Educator in Food Safety with the University of Minnesota Extension. When we think of the Minnesota State Fair, often the first thought that comes to mind is the many options of food, especially the abundance of options of food on a stick, lobster on a stick, deep fried breakfast on a stick, or olives on a stick, even hot dish on a stick. With your community festival or event, you bring people to food, and often the unique, traditional, fun, festive, ethnic, or cultural food brings the community to your festival. While all festivals and events require sound practices to ensure the safety of attendees, events that involve food require food safety procedures and practices to protect the attendees and ensure the event's continued success. As the event planner, manager, or overseer, what is your role in working with the event design, layout, and safe, properly functioning facilities? Do you look at your community festival or event site through food safety glasses? When it comes to preparing, serving, and selling safe festival and event food, the meaning and importance of the food stand location refers to where are? Where are the porta-potties or toilets? Where is the garbage collection site? Where are the animal pens? Where is the food stand in regards to protection from bad weather? Where are all of these in relationship to the location of the food stand? Design your event layout and design with food safety in mind. Although there are no specific footage requirements for placement of the toilets, garbage, or animal pens in relationship to the food stands, the Minnesota Department of Health Guidelines for Special Event Food Stands states, locate the stand from possible contamination sources again, such as toilets, garbage sites, animals, and animal pens. The Special Event Food Stand Fact Sheet is available as a resource in this section or available on the Minnesota Department of Health website. Another key point from the Minnesota Department of Health is that we need to construct or locate the stand so that it is protected during bad weather. If the food is not adequately protected from weather, dust, and debris, you cannot operate the food stand. MDH acceptable floor surfaces include vinyl, sealed wood, concrete, asphalt, or other materials that control dust and mud and are sloped for drainage. Not a dirt floor. Food and supplies must be clean, dry, covered, and kept at least 6 inches off the floor. All food should be stored off the ground to eliminate contamination from pests, rodents, dust, and dirt. Requirements also include providing a canopy or other form of overhead protection. Be sure your event is in compliance. Operate in compliance with all applicable gas hookup and service, electrical, and fire code requirements. Are adequate number of receptacles for trash and garbage provided? Are they emptied frequently or as needed? Garbage management is crucial for insect and pest control, especially for outdoor food events. Garbage can attract pests and contaminate food, equipment, and utensils if not handled correctly. Your menu and food preparation process will determine the type of equipment required and will also determine whether a special event license can be issued. On the other side of that coin, the menu and food preparation may be limited by available equipment. The special event food license does not require NSF-designated equipment. Seasonal, temporary, permanent food stands have NSF equipment requirements. Check with your local regulatory authority for equipment requirements. Any county license applications for a special event food stand include a menu form where the vendor identifies the menu item, source, storage, preparation equipment, holding equipment, as the example here shows. This is a good helpful tool to use in planning the event. What should the temperature of a cooler be? Yes, 40 is the correct answer. We want to be sure that we are keeping cold foods cold at 40 degrees or below. What should the temperature of the freezer be? 0 or below is the correct answer and at times you will see things identified as minus 10 or below for good quality frozen foods. Cold potentially hazardous foods must be held at 41 degrees Fahrenheit or below. Hot potentially hazardous foods must be held at 140 degrees Fahrenheit or above. Mechanical refrigeration is required for potentially hazardous foods held longer than 4 hours. For food held less than 4 hours, dry ice or frozen freezer packs may be used as long as the food is maintained, again at 41 or below. Drained ice may be used to cool beverages. Thermometers are a necessary piece of festival food equipment. The use of thermometers is required to ensure the safe temperature of hot and cold food and also of refrigeration and freezer storage. Thermometers are readily available and economical to purchase. The majority of today's festival and event food is served using disposable cups, plates, utensils, paper baskets, or even sticks. For some faith-based festival dinners, for example, reusable plates, cups, or silverware may be used. If so, dish washing facilities such as a three compartment sink, which is large enough to accommodate large food preparation and serving equipment, must be available. Water used for hand washing and ware washing must be potable. Potable means that it's drinkable water. It can come from a municipal water supply or from a public well if the well water is tested at least once per year. Water cannot come from a residential well. Also know that wastewater must be properly disposed according to regulation standards. As we come to the close of our look at event and festival facilities, layout, and design, we can't emphasize enough the importance of numerous, well-placed, well-supplied, and maintained hand washing stations. They are critical to the safety of the food at your event or festival. Stands must be frequently washed for 20 seconds with 70 to 110 degree water with soap, nail brush, and rinsed and dried with paper towels. Gloves, wet wipes, or hand sanitizers are not substitutes for proper hand washing. Requirements for types of hand washing stations vary by the type of license the vendor has. Example, special event food stands can have a jug or cooler system with potable water if needed, although the jug cooler system is not allowed with a seasonal temporary license. In review of the facility's layout and design objectives, the objectives are to increase your knowledge of food safety regulations and recommendations for festival and event facilities and to encourage you to manage your event or festival with the intent to control food safety hazards with proper facility layout and design plans along with, of course, the implementation and monitoring of this plan. As event or festival planners, managers, or overseers, be aware of food vendors set up, be knowledgeable of facility design and layout, be in contact with Minnesota Department of Health or your local regulatory authorities prior to the event planning, set up, and implementation. They are your go-to resource. References used to develop this module are here identified. They may also serve as helpful resources for you as an event or festival manager. I'm Deborah Botzyk-Linn, Extension Educator in Food Safety with the University of Minnesota Extension. Thank you for participating in Food Safety for Event Planners, Facilities, Layout, and Design.