Actions
- Tweet
Who inspects your food? RiverStone Health explains as spoiled milk investigation continues
RiverStone Health oversees roughly 2,000 licensed food establishments in Yellowstone County. Here’s what inspectors look for, and who oversees the Meadow Gold plant.
PrevNextJustin McKinsey/MTN News
By:Isabel Spartz
Posted
BILLINGS — Recent reports of milk spoiling before its expiration date in Montana and Wyoming are raising questions about how the food people eat is kept safe
In Yellowstone County, that job largely falls to RiverStone Health, the county health department, which oversees roughly 2,000 licensed food establishments, from restaurants and grocery stores to food trucks, with inspections conducted once or twice a year depending on risk
Who inspects your food? RiverStone Health explains as spoiled milk investigation continues
At Guadalajara Mexican Restaurant in the Heights, kitchen supervisor Luis Nuno works to make sure the food his team prepares is safe to eat
“40, 39,” Nuno said as he reads off temperatures in the walk-in fridge. “Everything is fresh, but they’re always looking for these kinds of temperatures.”
Those temperatures, along with marking dates and handwashing, are among the things RiverStone Health looks for during inspections
Justin McKinsey/MTN News
“It’s more sanitized. It’s our reputation basically, (making) sure everybody knows and follow the rules,” said Nuno. “We don’t want to get anybody get sick, of course.”
While Guadalajara hasn’t seen problems with the milk it uses, which amounts to about three gallons each week, other consumers across Montana and Wyoming have reported milk spoiling before its expiration date. The Montana Department of Livestock is investigating those complaints, with many tied to products bottled at Billings’ Meadow Gold processing plant
Related:Sanitation, contamination problems found at Billings Meadow Gold milk plant, but no recall issued
RiverStone Health does not inspect the Meadow Gold facility. That oversight falls to the Montana Department of Livestock, but Melissa Henderson, a senior director of Public Health Services at RiverStone Health, said her department does receive complaints when products spoil and when there are foodborne illness reports
“A lot of the calls we get aren’t necessarily complaints,” Henderson said. “They’ll be questions. ‘What do you know about this? Is my milk safe to drink?'”
Henderson said large-scale manufacturers like Meadow Gold are subject to significant oversight
“When you do go through these larger scale manufacturers, it might not feel like it right now, but they do get inspected,” she said. “They do have to meet a lot of safety standards, and it’s traceable.”
For the food establishments RiverStone does oversee, inspectors focus on five key areas: employee hygiene, approved foodmperatures, and clean equipment
“We really focus on what’s called risk-based inspection,” Henderson said. “Hand hygiene is the biggest one, and so we’re promoting having signage up to remind people about washing their hands.”
Grocery stores fall under the same requirements as restaurants and convenience stores that sell time- or temperature-controlled foods
Isabel Spartz/MTN News
RiverStone said it has received eight reports related to the milk, but so far the agency has not determined whether the milk caused any illness
The Department of Livestock said it inspected the Billings Meadow Gold plant seven times during the past year, including on July 27. The department has not said those inspections found contaminated milk
MTN News requested an update on the investigation Friday but had not received a response by publication time
If the Department of Livestock issues a recall, RiverStone would work with local grocery stores and food establishments to ensure affected products are removed from shelves and to answer questions from businesses and consumers
Related:Dairy trade group says Billings milk plant problem fixed, but state regulators disagree
Henderson said keeping consumers informed remains a priority
“Just making sure that consumers are informed and educated when they’re making those personal choices is important,” she said
Back at Guadalajara, Nuno said the inspection process is something the restaurant takes seriously, and that when inspectors do find small issues, there is a process to address them
“If they have like a little issues, they always tell you to get it done, and they give you so much time to get it fixed,” Nuno said
