Food Safety at the Minnesota State Fair

Peggy Spadafore gave the Minnesota Wine Country's state fair stand a serious look over Thursday. She works for the Minnesota Department of Health. Spadafore and her team are responsible for scrutinizing all food and beverage vendors here at the Great Minnesota Get-Together.

"There's about 12 of us that come out the first and second day and we inspect every stand that we license at the state fair," Spadafore said.

That would be roughly 251 stands that run the gamut. .... From selling pork chops to corn dogs to egg rolls. Over 1.7 million people came to the fair in 2011.

Most folks got a bite to eat while they were there. So when it comes to food Spadafore says, her main concern is safety.

"We make sure the cold is cold and the hot is hot. So it either has to be 41 degrees or colder or held a at 140 degrees or hotter," Spadafore said.

Plus, they check proper storage of food, good hand washing and require no bare hand contact with anything ready to be eaten. Manager Jeff McClure says, locking in sound open and closing procedures is the key to a healthy place.

"Because if you have an inspection that does go south it becomes a huge problem. It can close your restaurant, your facility, potentially there are fines that could be levied. It's really important to maintain those quality procedures," McClure said.

The Department of Health said in all there years inspecting vendors at the fair, they have never had to shut anyone down.