Lewis County Commissioners were briefed Monday on a Public Health and Social Services initiative to notify local retailers that their pre-packaged burritos should be coming with a federal or state seal of approval.
During the meeting, Public Health and Social Services Director J.P. Anderson raised the issue of numerous espresso stands selling burritos and other assorted grab-and-go meat items that haven’t been inspected by the USDA or WSDA.
Anderson added that he and colleagues have been actively interfacing with county food stands to make sure they’re reaching out to their wholesalers and making them aware of state and county protocol, which will soon be going into effect in Lewis County.
“We’ve got an increasing number of people who are selling food to other retail outlets that we’re encountering that do not have the USDA or WSDA permitting required to do that,” he said. “At that point, they’re putting people at risk by maybe not having the adequate facilities for wholesaling food, or maybe not having proper storage or transportation.”
Public Health and Social Services Environmental Health Specialist Meredith Jones explained that while the espresso stands in question have traditionally sold “low-risk” muffins and other commercially prepared products from Costo and Cash & Carry warehouse stores, there’s now a growing interest in “local” food products that require separate licensing.
“I’ve helped the people that I’ve worked with to get the right contact information. … This is really intended to give them the information so they could make the business decision about where they want to buy the product and make sure they’re from approved sources,” detailed Jones.
Anderson further noted that his department isn’t advancing any rules changes in requiring retailers to sell government inspected perishable goods, but mentioned that it’s simply following regulations recommended by state code.
Each of the food stand operators will reportedly be informed of a common timeline to make the necessary arrangements.
“We talked about this in that we’re better off addressing it now rather than having to do it every time we go to an espresso stand and have to reeducate people,” Anderson said. “You know, we’re happy to do that, but we need to kind of broadly clarify that this is a rule before it gets out of hand and before people get sick.”
