Food Safety
Commercial Kitchen Requirements
- Three-compartment sink. The three-compartment sink needs to be large enough to submerge your largest utensil/pan.
- Separate hand sink. Depending on the size and layout of the facility, you may need two.
- Utility/Mop Sink. You cannot use the hand sink as a mop sink. You must have two separate sinks for handwashing and mops.
- Prep Sink. You can utilize the three-compartment sink as a prep sink if you sanitize the compartments between switching uses. It’s much easier to go ahead and have a separate prep sink.
- Grease Trap. Grease trap requirements are determined by the water company. You must consult with them to determine the size grease trap required for your facility. Depending on your menu, you may install a smaller under the sink grease trap or have it completely waived. This must be approved by the water company. A letter of waiver from the water company must be submitted with the plans if a waiver is approved. If you are on a septic system, you must have an outside grease trap, based on the Onsite Reg 902 KAR 10:085 Section 6 (3)(c)(d).
- Vent Hood. Vent Hood Requirements are handled by Codes. You will need to get with them to determine the venting requirements. There are separate Codes offices for Madison County, Berea and Richmond.
- Fire Suppression System. This goes along with the vent hood, but this is something you will need to install as well. We can’t recommend any companies, but you can do an online search for area companies and call a few to get quotes. For more information about fire suppression system requirements, contact the Fire Marshall’s office at 859-623-1164.
- Overall Design of the Kitchen. All the walls and floors are smooth, non-absorbent, and easily cleanable material. Wood walls and floors must be either painted with smooth paint or wood seal.
- Restroom Facility. You will need to have a restroom in the building. Restroom requirements are determined by occupancy. At minimum, you will have to have at least one (1) unisex restroom. If you have less than fifteen (15) seats, you are not required to have a public restroom.
Plumbing plans must be submitted to the Health Department. A certified master plumber is required to do the plumbing work. They must submit a detailed floor plan showing the layout of the kitchen (locations of the sinks, equipment, etc.), a riser diagram, and a filled-out plan review application. The plan review fee is $100.
Madison County requires that a person with a Food Manager certification is on duty during all hours of operation. Our Food Manager course is available online at https://ky-madisonchd.statecert.com/login . The cost is $80 and it is valid for three years.
All other workers will need at least a Food Handler certification. Our Food Handler certification is also available online at https://madisoncohd.com/environmental-health/. The Food Handler certification is $15 and is valid for three years.
Food Handler Testing
All people who work in food service establishments in Madison County are required to have a food handler card issued by the Health Department. Restaurants and other establishments must keep a copy of the card on file for every employee that handles food and drink. This includes waiters, bartenders, dishwashers, cooks, and kitchen workers. Certified food managers are not required to have a food handler card. Please note that this test and certification is valid in Madison County, Kentucky only and may not be recognized by other county health departments. It is your responsibility to check acceptability with the health department in your county.
Applicants for Food Handler Testing are given a Food Handler booklet ( click here for Spanish) to review, then a short written multiple-choice test. Topics include food preparation, cooking and holding temperatures, dishwashing and sanitation, hand washing procedures, chemical storage, and other information related to safe storage, preparation, and serving of food and drink. Effective July 1, 2019, tests cost $15.00, and permits are good for 3 years. Duplicate or replacement cards can be purchased for $5.00 per card.
MCHD offers Food Handler Testing at the Environmental Health office on 216 Boggs Lane in Richmond, and at the Martha Pride Community Health Center on 1001 Ace Drive in Berea.
Richmond hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm.
Berea hours are Monday through Wednesday, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm.
Call 859-626-4249 for more information
Online Foodhandlers Course
The Food Handler test and certificate is now available online, 24 hours a day, 7 days per week!
The course fee is paid through PayPal with either a PayPal account or a credit/debit card. You do NOT have to have a PayPal account to use a credit card; the payment is simply processed through PayPal. If you pay the fee and cannot complete the course online, bring a printout of your PayPal transaction to our office to complete it in person.
- Download and study the Food Handler Manual. This is the same manual that you would study in our office. As an alternative, you may also watch the video below.
- When you are ready, take the test. Be advised that you will need a computer; tablets and cell phones are not supported and may not work for the test. En Español.
The certificate is your food handler’s card. Print two copies of the certificate, one for you and one for your employer. If you have any questions call Environmental Services at 859-623-7312.
Food Manager Certification
Madison County Health Regulation 400:200 requires that all food service establishments in Madison County be operated by a certified food service manager. At least one (1) certified food service manager must be on duty during all hours of operation. Restaurants and other food service establishments may certify as many managers as they need to meet that requirement.
Failure to comply with MCHR 400:200 will result in legal action being taken against the permit holder of the establishment. This may include fines ranging from $10 to $100 per day for each day the violation has occurred.
In order to become certified or re-certified, food service managers must go through our online Food Manager Certification course and pass the test at the end of the course. The fee for the class is $80 per person and the certification is valid for three (3) years. In this course we will discuss the principles of food safety that a Certified Food Manager must be proficient in
Training topics include:
- The Importance of Food Sanitation
- Receiving and Storage
- Insect and Rodent Control
- Personal Hygiene
- Prevention of Foodborne Illness Through Proper Food Handling
- Preparation and Service
- Sanitization of Tableware and Equipment
How to Register:
- Follow the link https://ky-madisonchd.statecert.com
- Register your information by clicking “Register” in the upper right corner of the page.
- After Registration, log in with your created account and under “Get License” the Food Manager Course is available.
- You will have to pay the $80 via credit card to start the course.
- After payment has been processed, you will be able to go through the course. You may stop this course at any time and when you log back on you will resume from the point where you left off.
- When you complete this course you will receive a certificate in your email and a printable version of the certificate and wallet sized card. Upon completion of the course you have met the requirements and are a certified food manager.
Mobile Food Unit Plan Review & Permitting Instructions
Plan Review
If you are building a brand-new Mobile Food Truck/Trailer or modifying an older one, you will need to submit plans to the Madison County Health Department. This consists of:
- Completing the Plan Application Form, which is located at https://madisoncohd.com/environmental-health/ The fee for the plan review is $100.00. Payment can be made via cash, check, or credit card. Checks should be made out to “Madison County Health Department”.
- Providing a detailed floor plan of the entire mobile unit, showing the layout of the equipment, the three-compartment sink, handwash sink, freshwater tank size, and wastewater tank size. Waste tanks are required to be at least 50 percent larger than the freshwater tank. The three-compartment sink needs to be large enough to submerge your largest piece of equipment.
- Riser diagram showing all sinks, tanks, and water heater. All plumbing on the unit must be done by a certified master plumber.
Once these three initial items have been taken care of, the certified master plumber will bring them into the Madison County Health Department located at 216 Boggs Ln Richmond KY 40475. The plans will be initially reviewed by the Health Inspector, then the plans will be sent to be reviewed by the Plumbing Inspector. After the plans have been approved, it is ok to start work on the mobile food unit.
The city of Richmond has an ordinance that requires a fire suppression system be installed in any mobile food units operating in city limits that are grilling, frying, etc. This does not apply to setting up outside of Richmond and Berea city limits. Most cities/counites are adopting similar ordinances, so this is something to consider when designing your mobile unit.
For more information about fire suppression system requirements, contact the Fire Marshall’s office at 859-623-1164.
Permitting
After the work is completed, contact the Plumbing Inspector to do an inspection of the plumbing. After the plumbing has been approved by the Plumbing Inspector, you will need to come into the Madison County Health Department and apply/pay for your permit.
If you have purchased a Mobile Food Truck/Trailer that has been previously permitted in the state of Kentucky, you will need to bring proof that it was previously permitted, and the inspector will have to verify the plumbing was inspected by the Department of Plumbing by seeing the green Plumbing Inspection sticker either on the water heater or three-compartment sink. If no sticker is present, the plumbing will have to be approved by the plumbing inspector. You will then come into the Madison County Health Department and apply/pay for your permit.
- The permit will be for a Statewide Mobile Unit. This permit allows the Mobile Food Truck/Trailer to operate anywhere in the state of Kentucky. The permits last for the calendar year, January 1st to December 31st. Even if you pay for your initial permit during the middle of the year, it will expire December 31st of that year. The permits must be renewed yearly.
- The fee for the permit is $200.00. Payment can be made via cash, check, or credit card. Checks should be made out to “Madison County Health Department”.
Following completion and payment for the permit, an appointment will need to be made with one of the Health Inspectors to inspect the truck/trailer. If any issues are found during this initial inspection, the issues will have to be fixed, and another inspection will be required before the permit can be issued.
If there are not any issues, and the Mobile Food Truck/Trailer is approved by the Health Inspector, the permit will be issued to you via mail. Once you receive your permit, you always need to keep a copy of the permit in the Food Truck/Trailer.
If at any point during this process you have questions, contact the Environmental Section of the Health Department at (859)-626-4249.
Restaurant Inspection Information
By law, food service establishments (this includes bars, restaurants, etc.) operating in Kentucky are required to have a permit to operate. These permits are issued by the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. In Madison County, the Health Department issues food permits on behalf of the state.
One of the requirements for a permit is that the establishment must be inspected regularly. This is done by a registered sanitarian, commonly known as a health inspector.
Frequency
The inspections are conducted based upon items related to general sanitation and food safety. They are done twice a year, unless otherwise needed (for example, a restaurant having a food safety/sanitation complaint may be inspected more than twice in one year. Also, establishments that only operate for a short period of time during the year may only receive one inspection each year).
The inspections are typically unannounced—the establishment does not know ahead of time when the inspection will take place. The exception to this is in cases where it is necessary to schedule an inspection due to an establishment’s hours of operation or for other establishments that are not open to the public on a walk-in basis.
Purpose
The purpose of the inspections is to assure that the food is being properly handled and protected when stored, prepared, displayed, served and transported. Inspectors observe various aspects of a food service operation including:
- Food service workers’ hygienic practices and food handling practices
- Food temperatures for potentially hazardous foods
- Equipment design, maintenance and operation
- Storage of foods and food service items
Scores: What Do They Mean?
Inspections involve a report containing 58 potential items of violation, each of which is assigned a point value based on how it can affect a person’s health. The point values range from one to three, with one being least severe and three being most severe.
Most of the items on the inspection are weighted at one or two points and are characterized as “non-critical” violations. Others are considered a higher threat and are characterized as “critical” violations.
An example of a non-critical violation is a hand washing sink in an establishment that is dirty or a refrigerator that doesn’t have a thermometer provided in or on it to monitor the temperature inside.
An example of a critical violation is an employee failing to use a hand sink, whether dirty or not; failure to wash hands between handling raw chicken and cutting up vegetables for use in salad; or potentially hazardous food items stored at a temperature above 41 degrees Fahrenheit inside a refrigerator that is not cooling properly due to a mechanical failure, whether a thermometer is present or not.
To calculate an establishment’s final score, the total of the points for all violations marked is subtracted from a total point value of 100. An establishment is considered to have passed its routine inspection if a score of 85% or above is received with no critical violations noted. An establishment that scores below 85% or receives a critical violation debit fails its inspection.
Follow-up Inspections
Generally, follow-up inspections are necessary within 10 days if an establishment has any critical violations or within 30 days if it has a total score below 85 without critical violations. Follow-up inspections can be conducted on the same visit, if the problem is something the restaurant staff can correct immediately. A food establishment can also require more than one follow-up inspection. Some violations may warrant immediate correction.
In any case, if the total score received is below 70, more immediate enforcement measures are taken involving imminent or immediate suspension of the establishment’s permit. Scores below 70 may require administrative actions, including conferences with officials from the Kentucky Department for Public Health, which may result in later follow-up dates. The food establishment may be required to close during this time period. If you have questions about a particular situation, you may request the complete inspection report by calling Environmental Health Services at 859-626-4249.
Inspection Reports
Please keep in mind that the inspection scores only represent the conditions present at the time of the inspection. Conditions in a restaurant as well as other types of food service establishments can change from hour-to-hour and day-to-day.
Temporary Food Operations
Foods may be prepared and served in conjunction with gatherings or events, such as fairs and festivals. Food items and methods of preparation may be restricted during these temporary events. All temporary food vendors must have a permit from the local health department prior to commencing operations. For more information and applications, please contact Environmental Services at (859) 626-4249, 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday.
Water Emergency Guidelines for Food Service Establishments
Common Forms:
- Complaint form DFS-327
- Madison Co Health Dept Animal Bite Form
- Existing System Inspection APPLICATION
- Plan Application Form
- Food Service Checklist
- Statewide Mobile Info Form
- Formulario de Información Móvil a Nivel Estatal
- Instrucciones para la revisión del plan y permisos de unidades móviles de comida
- Lista de Verificación de Servicio de Alimentos
- Requisitos para cocinas comerciales
Kentucky Tracking partnered with subject matter experts from the Food Safety Branch and the Infectious Disease Branch to to create online story maps focusing on the most common food-related germs that cause illness: Norovirus, Shiga-toxin producing E. Coli (STEC), Clostridium perfringens and Foodborne Staphylococcus aureas, and Salmonella.