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Here each child brings their own meals.
I provide water.
I provide water.
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exactly what I am talking about. As I understand IF you PREPARE food, you MUST comply with these rules. He said "if you open a can of beans and spoon the beans out of a can onto a plate, you are required to be inspected just like a restaurant kitchen by the health dept."For me, I am inspected by Dept of Health and Sanitation and he checks things like seperate handwashing sinks and my sanitizing facilities for dishes/silverware, etc, the temps of my fridges/freezers, how my food is stored etc. That is not optional, it is part of my license just like the Fire Marshall.
This is nothing to do with a food program that some are talking about. This is to open a daycare and feed children. Remarks about prepackaged foods do not require this inspection and resulting equipment (3 compartment sinks and such) that must be present to pass inspections to operate daycare.
The next day of orientation is to go over the rules for the specific type of daycare center we are considering. Today when had people from DHS, Health Dept. State Fire Marshal, and a couple of others speak to everyone. From 8:30 AM till 3:45 PM today for day one of 2 days REQUIRED orientation.Comment
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I provide...
I provide all meals, snacks and drinks. I've been thinking about getting on the food program though. I have a small daycare so Im not sure if it will really help much... but I guess it wouldnt hurt. Is it pretty simple to do?Comment
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When I said that it isn't optional for me to be part of the Dept of Health, it is regardless of if I prepare or serve food. Dept of Health and Fire Marshall are just part of the required package to be liscensed.
My three compartment sink is my regular two sided kitchen sink and then my dishwasher which has a sanitize cycle. Before we had the dishwasher, I had a large tub that was used to sanitize. Both these were considered my third compartment by the health department.Comment
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That was also stated today (pan for 3rd sink) but still there MUST be yet another sink to be in the food preparation area used ONLY for washing your hands. "You can't wash your hands in the same sink you wash dishes in." For a center the remark was many choose to use throw away plates and such to avoid the 3 sink/ commercial dishwasher. I guess the dishwasher must be much more expensive than a home unit. I understood the commercial unit either sprayed a sanitatizing agent on the dishes after washing or super heated them to sterile them. I can't see so much of a problem with this and understand the reasoning but another sink for only washing your hands?Comment
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My dishwasher was $500 and it was a tax write off, so that is always helpful! Our handwashing sink has to be within 12ft of the area where we change diapers and cannot be one of the food prep sinks. I do not have to have a seperate sink just for hands in the kitchen. Maybe clarify that?Comment
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Mike, I'm in Arkansas, and what you are describing is exactly what my regs are. We planned to have families supply their own food, but were told by the health Dept that even if they bring it and you only heat it, the same kitchen requirements apply because we are required to have the sink for cleaning up. And we have to have a separate handwashing sink in the kitchen, and a separate mop sink. We are going through with the full blown kitchen and will prepare meals and get onto food program. We figured if we have to have it for cleanup, then we might as well go ahead and prepare food and get on the food program.Comment
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Health Dept REQUIRES a sink in kitchen or food processing area to be used only for washing hands. You can not wash hands in the sink used to wash dishes in - "you don't want to do that" was exact phrase stated. I believe the logic is to do with spreading germs to your clean hands after washing. The 2 or 3 basin sink that dishes would be washed, rinsed, sanitized in can not be used to wash your hands while working in food processing area.
A separate sink from the "normal one" that is used ONLY for washing hands. No mob water etc. here only washing hands.
If your dishwasher was under the counter commercial one, I am surprised at the cost. You can spend more than that on a high quality home dishwasher. I was expecting $2K the way the Health Dept guy was talking. He told everyone that a local restaurant supply was a place to get one.
I understand these things vary from place to place, and town and county but I have not saw such an arrangement in any commercial kitchens I have saw or been in. Although I haven't been in any in the last little while, I guess the code could be new and just taking effect. It still seems frivolous to me.
My understanding was this applies to any daycare in this area, family, group or center. IF food was "prepared". As stated previously - "If you open a can of beans and spoon them out of the can onto a plate, you are preparing food because it is being removed from the orignal container." This calls for a health inspection for food prepration just like the resturants have and also calls for special washing of dishes and extra sinks (pan) and the extra hand washing sink.
I am a fairly logical person. Many things told today do make sense when the reasoning for some things were given. Others not so much, but we have to play by "their" rules if we get to play at all.Comment
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holy cow.
my state doesnt require any of that, not even for centers!!!!
its amazing how different regs are for each state/county.Comment
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nope
All food is prepared in my home for the kids. I do allow food from home, but only if their child has something specific [usually infants] like jarred baby food, baby mum mum cracker type things, or something like that. I don't provide homo milk, so the parents send in their child's milk for the day and I've never had any issues with that. I, personally, have a child with severe allergies and colitis induced by certain foods so I am very careful with what is served here. Although he can't have any ..well..anything, I do allow the dck to have some cheese on occasion and foods containing wheat, but not often. I may have to raise my prices a little bit to afford to feed all the children the way my son eats , to avoid any chance of system contamination.
I've never heard of the food program- I am in Ontario alsoComment
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I may have missed it, but are you opening a center or a opening a daycare in your home?
In my state, the rules you are stating apply to centers and to people who run a daycare out of a home that they do not live in. Home providers do not have the same kind of rules. Here, if you are a home provider watching over 15, you have to follow the USDA food program that the schools have to follow, but not the sanitation rules that larger centers have to follow.
Your best bet would be to get in contact with your licensor to determine if what you are asking about applies to you or not.
The only time that the rules for centers apply to homes is if a home provider remodels their house for daycare specific purposes. If you were to remodel your basement for example and put a kitchen in for meal prep, then we would have to install the 3 compartment sink, oven hood, and things like that.Comment
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I supply all food and drink. I operate out of my home but am licensed as a center so I have to follow center rules. That means any food being brought into the daycare has to be commercially prepared. No frying. No leftovers. Separate hand washing sink. 3 compartment sink or 2 compartment with a dishwasher that has a sanitizing cycle. If I was still licensed as family child care, none of these rules would apply.Comment
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no milk
I don't provide milk because my youngest has milk and soy protein induced colitis, do I don't keep massive stashes of milk on hand. I do have 2% and rice milk, but if their child drinks homo- they bring it from home :-)Comment
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