HEALTH NEWS

IN THE KITCHEN...  19 PUTNAM SCHOOLS CITED FOR HEALTH CODE VIOLATIONS
Dead Mouse Found In Buffalo High Cafeteria 
By Mark Hallburn
Publisher
PutnamLIVE.com

When you send your children off to school, the last thing you expect                                      if for them to be                                      served food out of                                  cafeterias that violate                               health codes.

However, parents of                           students in Putnam                               County schools have                                been doing just that. And the list of violators is lengthy: In just early to mid-September, 19 Putnam County Schools were cited for 113 violations. That's a vast majority of the 22 campuses in the Putnam County School system. (No private school cafeterias were cited during the same time period.)

From elementary schools to middle schools, to high schools, even the tech center, health inspectors found both critical and non-critical violations around Putnam County.

Many of the violations are "no big deal" to the layperson. However, many of the violations are
"Critical" violations warranting a special designation by the health department.

And the mouse in the Buffalo High School cafeteria? (See report above this story) We're betting it is likely to ruin some appetites and will be talked about for years.

"I think my kitchen is exceptional," says Buffalo High School Head Cook Myrna Farley. "If you read the rest of the report we got very high reviews. It got blown out of proportion."

Students have complained for generations about lousy cafeteria food across the country. In Putnam County, it appears those gripes can extend to cafeteria cleanliness.

However, Buffalo students defended Farley and their cafeteria when Eyewitness News went to the campus.

Senior Sabrina Caina says, "Janice and Myrna have been great all the years I've been here." Sophomore James Hess adds, "The cooks keep everything organized. They serve lunch real good. They're just great."

"Putnam County cooks and custodians make every effort to prepare and serve nutritious meals in a clean environment every day," says district spokeswoman Karen S. Nowviskie. "Reading the full Health Department reports will establish that many violations marked as critical by the health inspectors – such as dented pots – are regular occurrences in a home kitchen. We do, however, certainly take care of them as soon as we are aware of them in order to comply with health department regulations."

So far, PutnamLIVE.com published full reports on two of the campuses cited. We will add the other 18 reports as time allows in our "In The Kitchen" segment in our "On Your Side" section.

You can read our reports, including some restaurant inspection reports, by clicking here.

Hurricane Middle School and Hurricane High School were the only two campuses that were given spotless reports by the inspector.
 

The cafeteria kitchens that failed to make the grade include:

Buffalo Elementary: 3 Critical, 7 Non-Critical

Buffalo High: 1 Critical, 2 Non-Critical

Confidence Element: 2 Critical, 4 Non-Critical

Conner Street Elementary: 1 Critical

Eastbrook Element: 1 Critical, 4 Non-Critical

G.W. Elementary: 3 Critical, 3 Non-Critical

G.W. Middle: 1 Critical, 1 non-critical

Hometown Element: 3 Critical, 5 Non-Critical

Hurricane Town Elementary: 5 Non-Critical

Lakeside Elementary: 2 Critical, 8 Non-Critical

Poca High School: 6 Non-Critical

Poca Middle: 2 Critical, 5 Non-Critical

Putnam Career: 2 Critical, 3 Non-Critical

Rock Branch Elementary: 1 Non-Critical

Scott Teays Element: 1 Critical, 7 Non-Critical

West Teays Element: 2 Critical, 9 Non-Critical

Winfield Elementary: 1 Critical, 5 Non-Critical

Winfield High School: 8 Non-Critical

Winfield Middle School: 5 Non-Critical

Two days after PutnamLIVE.com broke this story, Eyewitness News filed this video report.