Officials say Iowa school cafeterias don’t deserve bad rap in inspections report

You probably don't know what your child will eat for lunch at school today, but state officials want you know the food on that plate is safe - and that a national report about the frequency of school cafeteria inspections in Iowa is wrong.

The report, using U.S. Department of Agriculture data, noted that nearly half of the 1,535 Iowa schools failed to have two inspections a year during the 2006-07 and 2007-08 school years.

Iowa struggled to get two inspections a year immediately after the Child Nutrition Act, which calls for school cafeterias to be inspected at least twice a year, passed. Inspections are being done now in accordance with the law, health and school officials said.

But a USA Today report on the USDA data identified Iowa as having the country's 10th worst state for school cafeteria inspections.

“That really does surprise me,” said Julie Hauser, director of nutritional services for the College Community school district and president of the School Nutrition Association of Iowa. “Usually school kitchens are said to be cleaner than most restaurants.”

The two-inspections-per-year mandate is part of the National School Lunch Program, which provides food for the country's schools. Congress added it to the Child Nutrition Act in 2004. It took effect a year later.

The law passed without additional funding, forcing county health departments to double the number of cafeteria inspections without increasing staff. Because of this, Iowa took longer to meet the new federal guidelines, sources The Gazette interviewed said.

“For the longest time, Cedar County couldn't reach two inspections because I was the only inspector,” Phil LaRue, Cedar County environmental and health officer, said.

According to the USDA, nearly 30 percent of the schools reporting inspections in 2006-07 and 2007-08 didn't comply with the federal mandate because inspectors weren't available.

“The obstacle in getting any inspection done is having the manpower,” Douglas Beardsley, director of Johnson County Public Health, said.

In the past two years the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals has required two inspections per year for kitchens where school food is prepared. Satellite kitchens, where food simply is heated and served, are inspected at least once a year. Main cafeterias are inspected twice because food-borne illnesses are more likely to occur where food is prepared, not where it is served.

“Is it perfect? No,” said David Werning, public information officer for the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals. “Does it work? Yes.”

Werning said he knows of no cases of food-borne illnesses originating in school kitchens. One case reported some years ago dealt with food brought to the school that teachers snacked on during the day, he said.

Another problem is the way inspection information is tracked. Health departments operate on calendar years. School information is tracked by school calendars.

“There are cases where we get two inspections in a school year, but according to the health department, we've only had one in a calendar year.” said Suzy Ketelsen, manager of the Cedar Rapids district's food and nutrition department.

Iowa schools must file their inspection reports with the state Department of Education every year in order to be reimbursed for school meals.

Diane Duncan-Goldsmith, food service director for the Iowa City school district, said kitchens in which food is prepared - the high school and middle school cafeterias - are inspected twice a year by the Johnson County Public Health Department. Johnson County health officials say inspections in the county's schools are current.

Heidi Peck, Linn County Public Health Department environmental health specialist, said all county school kitchens were inspected twice last year.

“The schools do an excellent job in terms of food safety” Peck said. “Often cafeteria employees have children, nieces or nephews attending the school in which they work, so they have a vested interested in food safety.”