North Carolina State University is trying to get more people interested in protecting the food you eat.
This week, they launched a unique new course focused on health inspections.
5 On Your Side reports weekly on restaurants in our area that get a less-than-ideal health score. Sometimes, those restaurants that get “B” or “C” sanitation grades don’t get reinspected for a year or more.
That’s because there are a lot of restaurants and only so many inspectors. The course’s goal is to improve that ratio.
Dr. Ben Chapman, a Food Safety Specialist and the Department Head of Agricultural and Human Sciences at NC State, teaches the class. He explained that the role of the health inspector has changed over time.
“It used to be that inspectors would look at walls, floors and drains and ask if everything is clean. That is not the case at all today,” Chapman said.
Today’s inspections go way more in-depth, and finding inspectors to fill vacant positions can be difficult.
“This is a way to develop that next generation of inspectors,” Chapman said, referring to the new course called “Introduction to Public Health Food Inspections,”
NC State offered for the first time this fall, and Chapman says students will travel to food facilities, processing plants and restaurants participating in mock inspections.
“Our students will get out there in the field and get that hands-on experience which is exciting,” Chapman told 5 On Your Side.
A special element of this course is that it was designed with the FDA and focuses on what they’re looking for in an inspector.
“It is unique in a sense that we are partnering directly with a federal agency, and they have been key in going back and forth in curricula development,” Chapman explained.
You don’t have to be an NC State student to sign up for the course, and Chapman expects some restaurants may be interested to better understand what an inspector is looking for. That means safer food served to you.
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