Food safety always a priority at Briarcliff Elementary

By Jenny Johnston

    Congratulations to Briarcliff Elementary School for being nominated for the 6th Annual 2010 Grade A Food Excellence Award from the Kansas City Missouri Health Department. The award recognizes restaurants, fast-food establishments, school cafeterias, bakeries, convenience stores, grocery stores and other facilities that have exhibited excellence in sanitation and food safety as well as evidence of successful employee education throughout 2009. The school previously received this award for five years. All food service establishments must meet strict criteria to earn this achievement. Cafeteria Manager Clara Proudfit discusses the details of criteria.
    “An elementary school is considered a high-risk facility, so we cannot have more than three critical violations and nine non-critical violations,” says Proudfit. “This includes proper food temperature, correct strength of sanitary water and disinfectant, temperature of the fridge, freezer, dishwasher, the rinse temperature and using the correct mix of chemicals.”
    The Health Department also checks the temperature and quality of food when it is received, stored, cooked and served. The food must be held at certain temperatures at all times. It’s also the school district policy that all cafeteria employees practice good hygiene and wear proper gloves, visors, hairnets and clean uniforms and aprons.
    The nutritional value is not a criteria of the award, but it’s a requirement from the district that all foods are 51 percent whole wheat. Briarcliff takes the extra step to educate students on healthy food choices.
    “Here, kids can choose what they eat--it’s called offer vs. serve,” says Proudfit. “We serve them four entrees: two hot and two cold, and the kids can choose their fruits and vegetables.”
    The kids’ choices are influenced by their gym teacher who teaches a mandatory health class for all grades. He encorporates the importance of nutrition in his classes, such as teaching students how to read food labels and identifying what foods are healthy.
    As a Briarcliff employee for 14 years, Proudfit takes a special pride in making sure the students stay healthy.
    “It’s my job to protect my kids at my school,” says Proudfit. “If my job isn’t done correctly, I take a chance of making a child sick...and I don’t want that on my shoulders. My girls and I have done everything possible to make sure the people here are eating safe.”
    While the students aren’t necessarily aware of the extensive preparation and cleaning process, they do know the food there is delicious.
    “It makes me so happy when kids come up to me and say, ‘I just love your chicken nuggets Ms. Claire!’ and when their little faces smile and tell you how much they enjoyed their food,” says Proudfit. “It’s a good feeling to know our hard work is being recognized and appreciated--not just by the health department, but the students especially.”
    In addition to the quality services, Briarcliff has a special feature that separates them from other schools. They have a school vegetable garden, meant only for the elementary school, which is used as an educational tool for all grade levels. Students participate by planting the seeds or plantlets and taking care of them. Once the veggies are ready to be picked, the cafeteria ladies prepare them and serve them at lunchtime. The homegrown vegetables are always the favorite items in the line.
    “They are thrilled when they know they are eating the vegetables they grew,” says Proudfit. “It’s so funny because I can have cucumbers sitting out from the produce truck, and they usually don’t all get eaten, but if I put out cucumbers that came from the garden, they’re all gone! It really makes a difference to them!”
    Proudfit also explained another instance when a class was growing kale.
    “I wasn’t sure if they were going to eat it or not, because most kids haven’t tried it,” says Proudfit. “I put it out as decoration between other food items, but instead they took the tongs and put in in their salads.”
    It’s no surprise the Briarcliff Cafeteria continues to win the award year after year because of their hard work to maintain the criteria of the Health Department and provide quality food and educational tools for students to make healthy eating choices.
    “I hope this award lets parents know that kids here eat good, quality food and are fed correctly,” says Proudfit. “We’ve worked hard and will continue to work hard to deserve this award.”