Spick-and-span

Pupils might scoff at the fruit medley cup on their school lunchroom tray, but they can still eat it with the comfort of knowing it came from a clean kitchen.

Columbia County Health Department inspectors recently granted a 100 rating to all of the county's public schools.

Officials say that's nothing new.

"We get that 100 rating consistently on our health scores," said Jo Marie Lombard, the school nutrition coordinator for the school system. "Every once in a while, we don't for some minor reason that we correct right away."

Health inspector Andrea Frazier confirmed the continual cleanliness of school kitchens.

"We inspect the schools twice a year, and nearly 100 percent of the time they do score 100," she said.

Lombard and Frazier credit the high scores to training.

"We have the highest percentage of Serve Safe-certified staff in the state of Georgia," Lombard said. "We just certified another whole group in the summer, so we take it very seriously."

Serve Safe is a certification program offered through the National Restaurant Association's educational foundation, Frazier said. She said it was a set of standard operating procedures to ensure safe food handling and preparation.

Frazier said the health department also provides additional training to school lunchroom workers.

"Usually twice a year we do an informal meeting with the kitchen staff from all the schools and do a little training," she said. "Due to the training and our input, it does help them score very well."

Food safety is "first and foremost" on the minds of food professionals in schools, Lombard said.

"We're so diligent about food safety," she said. "We don't take any chances."