Good morning!

A few quick bites today:

State Primary Election: September 6

The Primary is coming up on September 6! The last day to register is this Saturday, August 27, and early voting starts that day at Grandview Farm. You can vote early until September 6. Or, you can send back your mail-in ballot by Monday, August 29. Or, you can come to BHS between 7:00 AM and 8:00 PM on Election Day. If you prefer to see that in a pretty graphic, I stole one from our Town website and pasted it at the bottom. It also includes hours for early voting each day. Thank you, Town Clerk Amy Warfield, for providing this!

Board of Health Says Dunks on Wilmington Road is In Compliance

I watched a bit of the Board of Health Meeting last night and learned more than I ever knew I needed to know about food preparation.

For example:

• There are three risk categories for food preparation:

  • Level 1 means all food is pre-cooked and just reheated onsite.

  • Level 3 means food is prepared and cooked onsite.

  • Level 2 is somewhere in between that I didn’t catch.

• Sushi rice, in order to be kept at room temperature, has to be acidified in order to prevent bacteria from growing, causing foodborne illness.

• None of the restaurant violations discussed at tonight’s meetings were directly about people getting sick, so please don’t worry! Our Health Department has regulations in place to keep residents healthy and professional staff to ensure those regulations are being met.

Dunkin’ Donuts on Wilmington Road is one of multiple restaurants in recent months that doesn’t have a Certified Food Protection Manager on site at all times. Several establishments have this issue because of high turnover. They’re working to certify the managers and the opening and closing staff members. That’s six out of their seven staff members! They’re also implementing monthly ServSafe and allergen classes and state they are committed to having safe food for their customers.

San Soo Kap San Sushi had some violations because their fish invoices and pH meter calibration logs weren’t on site, and because they didn’t have distilled water on site for use with the pH meter. (pH meters measure acidity, hence the explanation about sushi rice above.) They’ve rectified the situation and been put on notice that if this happens again, there will be a hearing.

Today in Burlington

Short list today!

• 5:30 PM - Board of Health Subcommittee meets for Supervisory Nurse interviews.
• 6:00 PM - Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Committee meets to discuss any progress that’s been made toward selecting a date for a DEIC + Select Board joint meeting and to review more info from their meetings with other boards in town. (Join online)
• 7:00 PM - Capital Budget Committee meets to discuss the reorganization of the committee and their priorities for the new year.

That’s it. Short and sweet.

Have a great day, friends!

Nicci