From left, 1st Lt. Kristina Fauser, Cpt. Donna Goodson, Theresa Favers, Maria Creel, William Jernigan, Monica Stoddard, Latonya Weaver, Isaiah Davis, Joseph Colon, Deborah Barrett, Kenyatta Brown, Erica Herrington, Debhra Laughlin, Leroy Johnson, Ter...

The Nutrition Care Division at the Eisenhower Army Medical Center completed its first internal ServSafe certification program that included five two-day courses on March 28, 2014.

The ServSafe certification program is a food and beverage safety training course administered by the National Restaurant Association and accredited by the American National Standards Institute and the Conference for Food Protection.

The course is required by most restaurants and covers training on foodborne illnesses, biological toxins, such as shellfish poisoning, contamination, and food allergens.

Additionally the course covers purchasing and receiving of food items, food preparation, serving guidelines, food safety management systems, sanitation guidelines for facilities and equipment, and food safety regulations and employee training.

Through the five iterations of the ServSafe Food Protection Manager Certification Examination course, taught by Cpt. Donna Goodson and assisted by George Nicholas, the number of certified NCD personnel increased to 41 with a 96 percent course passing rate.

"88% of the personnel at the EAMC NCD Food Operations now possess the 5-year certification and several staff scored high enough to become certified instructors, creating a self-sustaining training crew to conduct future ServSafe training and testing to save training costs and provide better service to our patrons," said Maj. Kimberly D. Brenda, Chief of the Nutrition Care Division.