August, 2024

Articles This Month

1. Training Opportunities

2. 2025 Cooperative Agreements

3. Recall Notices for Sanitarians

4. Public Accommodations Variances

5. Common Marking Errors 

6. Job Openings

7. Reflecting on Mentorship as an SIT

Upcoming Webinars - Please register in advance using the link below. EHFS webinars are for state and local health officials, sanitarians maintaining CEs, and partner organizations only.

Food Additives, September 12^th at 11AM: Adam Kalahar, REHS with Minneapolis Environmental Health, will be joining us virtually to talk about food additives

2025 License Renewal Season - October, Date and Time TBD: Gail Macklin, EHFS Licensing Program Officer, will go over the keys to our 2025 License Renewal season to keep it running smoothly for everyone.

Other Opportunities

Food Safety Business Continuity: Stay calm, stay safe, stay open and know when it’s time to stay closed – September 4^th at 12PM: Sewage backups happen. So do floods, broken refrigerators, power outages, water interruptions, and a myriad of other food safety emergencies. Although emergency situations are unplanned, you can still have a plan ready for when they happen. In this guide we’ll discuss building a plan to approach them as unscheduled events rather than reacting to unplanned emergencies. Knowing the appropriate responses, having plans, and taking the right actions are all keys to addressing food safety while staying in business or returning to business as quickly as possible. Please register in advance here.

EHFS SIT Orientation: EHFS will be hosting another Sanitarian in Training (SIT) Orientation in late October or early November. If you have any SITs interested in attending, please reach out to Karenna to let her know. Training will include plan review and inspections for major programs.

If you have questions related to upcoming trainings or would like to be added to the Training Announcement List, please contact Karenna at Karenna.Doctor@mt.gov.

-Karenna

All sanitarian leads and seconds should have received an email with a draft copy of the 2025 Cooperative Agreement and a spreadsheet with county information. We require a response to this email.

The draft task order has a few changes, including adding in payment rules for licensed establishments. This attachment was included in previous year’s Cooperative Agreements. Please let us know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for the 2025 task order. We can entertain these now, but we cannot make any changes to the task orders once they are loaded for signature. In your response email, please include your comments on the Cooperative Agreement, or indicate that you have no comments.

Please look over the information for your county in the spreadsheet, including commissioner information. It is important that we have the correct names and contact information for your commissioners. In your response email, let us know if any of the information in the spreadsheet needs to be updated, or indicate that there are no changes.

Please let Staci or Kaylie know if you have any questions about this process.

Thank you,

-Staci, Sadie, and Kaylie

As you may have seen, the EHFS office is working on updating the polices and procedures concerning recalled products that affect our state.

If you have not already, please fill out the survey linked below. We want to make sure any updates or changes to these policies and procedures are beneficial to you. Please reach out to me directly with any questions or if you have problems accessing this survey.

Recall Notices for Sanitarians Survey

-Kira

These are interesting times for public accommodations in Montana. Visitors in the millions (12.5 million per year to be exact) travel to our great state. So, the possibilities to benefit from such populations are attractive. Providing shelter to these masses has been the role of hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, RV parks and campgrounds, and to a growing extent tourist homes. These are new types of facilities and there are situations that arise sparking the possibility of a variance. The Variance process is discussed in Public Accommodations Rules - 37.111.103.

A variance of the rules is possible in some cases; however, a variance is not allowed for MCA (50.51). For example, if a proposed bed and breakfast wishes to bring in breakfast, rather than cook it on site, there is a possibility for a variance if food safety including time and temperature control are maintained. However, if a homeowner wants to create a bed and breakfast using their home kitchen to provide breakfast for a client that is renting in a separate building, this is not allowed. By definition in MCA (50.51.102): "Bed and breakfast" means a private, owner- or manager-occupied residence that is used as a private residence. Statute does not allow for a variance.

Anytime a variance is considered, DPHHS must be involved. County environmental health and DPHHS will work together to evaluate the eligibility of a variance to public accommodations rules per ARM 37.111.103(4). Prior to issuing a variance, the local regulatory authority will contact, notify, and consult with the department about any similar variances to help ensure uniform application of the law.

Please send any variance proposals to Darryl.Barton@mt.gov for review prior to issuing the variance. 

-Darryl

As we are wrapping up quarterly report audits, I want to address the most common items found missing or incorrect on the retail food inspection reports. Please remember to fill the report out in its entirety. Most of the reports are great, so keep up the good work!

Marking IN, OUT, NO, NA

6. Proper eating, tasting, drinking, or tobacco use
7. No discharge from eyes, nose, and mouth
8. Hands clean and properly washed

These items should be marked IN or OUT if employees are present. They can be marked NO in rare cases where there are no food workers are present (e.g. pre-opening). If marked NO during regular inspection indicate in observation area that food workers were not present.

12. Food received at proper temperature

Mark item IN or OUT if an actual food temperature is measured and recorded during receiving.

This item may be marked NA when the establishment receives only foods that are not TCS food and that are not frozen.

This item may be marked NO if food is not received during the inspection.

Time Temperature Control for Safety Food

18. Proper cooking time and temperature

If marked IN or OUT, the observed temperature must be measured and recorded.

Can be marked NO if cooking processes are not taking place during inspection but compliance appears to be determined through discussions with PIC.

Marked NA if no raw animal foods are cooked in establishment.

19. Proper reheating procedures for hot holding

If marked IN or OUT, the observed temperature must be measured and recorded (label as reheating temp).

Can be marked NO if food is held for second service bur reheating isn’t taking place during inspection.

Marked NA if foods are not held for second service and/or reheating for hot holding in not performed.

20. Proper cooling time and temperatures

When marking cooling IN or OUT, two temperature points and a time frame must be recorded in the observation area. Review of temperature logs detailing the start time can be used also.

Can be marked NO if cooling processes are not taking place during inspection but compliance appears to be determined through discussions with PIC.

Marked NA when the establishment does not receive raw eggs, shellstock, or milk, prepares no TCS food from ambient temperature ingredients that require cooling, and does not cool cooked TCS food.

Highly Susceptible Populations

26. Pasteurized foods used; prohibited foods not offered

Only mark IN or OUT if the establishment is solely serving a highly susceptible population (assisted living, hospital, school)

Mark NA if a highly susceptible population is not served.

Do not mark NO.

See Annex 7 Guide 3-B for complete marking instructions.

Header and footer information- be sure to fill in every line. If something does not apply or doesn’t fit in the provided space, its acceptable to write NA or write the information where there is more space. Do not forgot to sign and date the pages as well!

Any observations about the facility are helpful in the reports.

Feel free to reach out to me with any questions. I’m happy to help!

-Jenna

Gallatin City-County Health Department is looking to hire a program manager for their Establishment Licensing Program. The job posting can be found here. 

Please share this listing with anyone you think might be interested. If you would like to see a job opening in your county listed on our newsletter, please send it to kaylie.kummer@mt.gov

This past year has been full of many changes and transitions for me both professionally and spiritually. My Fiancé and I decided to pick up our life and make a move to Montana. It was a very big decision for both of us, we were mostly happy in our jobs and both chasing successful careers. Something within me just was not satisfied in my professional life. I needed a change, and I needed a challenge, along with a more comfortable and peaceful life in Montana. In November of 2023, I took a huge leap and applied to be the Sanitarian in Sanders County. Within days I received a call, and I was offered the position that had been open for several months. I gave my two weeks' notice and I packed my truck for Montana. I was starting down a new and scary path in life with a big reduction in pay and no knowledge of what It meant to be a Sanitarian in a small western Montana county.

Within this same time frame, the State of Montana was restructuring their Sanitarian program, and it seemed like things were changing for the better. But the transition was rocky, and the resources were limited in our part of the state. I was very happy to hear that Confluence Public Health Alliance and MEHA were starting a new mentorship program for new sanitarians and SIT’s, like me. I quickly applied for the program at the end of November 2023 and was accepted a few months later. It was a relief to know that I would be working with people who were in the same or similar boat as myself. I was excited that I would be placed with a knowledgeable mentor, who would be able to help me answer questions and help me build my professional skills as a Sanitarian.

I was paired with another mentee who was a licensed Sanitarian from a local western Montana county and a mentor who had many years of experience in the field of Environmental Health. The program was designed to help us build a foundation of support and a community of colleagues who understand Environmental Health in Montana. People who have the resources and knowledge to help us find the information, support, and the assistance that we need to expand and grow our new careers. I felt connected from the beginning and my mentor did a fantastic job of connecting with me in person and via phone or Zoom calls. The group would meet regularly, and we would have monthly projects and meetings to sharpen and build or skills. The support I received made me feel like I belonged and that I had made the right decision to become a Sanitarian in Montana.

There is zero cost to the program, and it gives you the opportunity to learn so much about the professional field of Environmental Health. I was able to attend the Confluence conference in April 2024 and meet up with everyone who was enrolled in the program. Confluence paid for the trip and gave us a discount on the conference registration. It was a very good conference, and it was really nice to meet everyone in person. It was great to feel so connected and have people around you who are on the same journey. Again, I would highly recommend the program to anyone who wants to develop and sharpen their job skills through networking and peer learning activities.

Thank you, Confluence and MEHA for making my journey a little less treacherous and rocky. It helps to have people who want to help you be successful in life. It is a great program, and I know it will only get better with experience and learning. Keep up the good work.

Sincerely,

Jeremy Leavitt

Contact Information

EHFS Staff Listing

EHFS | Phone: (406) 444-2837 | Fax: (406) 444-5055

hhsfcs@mt.gov | Environmental Health and Food Safety Section