Some eateries in the Verde Valley last year were worth their plate in gold.
Yavapai County Community Health Services dished out its 2014 Golden Plate Award — which honors a strong commitment to food safety — to 49 food establishments in Camp Verde, Clarkdale, Cornville, Cottonwood, Jerome, Rimrock/Lake Montezuma, Sedona and the Village of Oak Creek.
Cottonwood gobbled up the most, with 20 awards, easily outpacing Camp Verde’s nine.
Countywide, 173 Golden Plates were served. There are more than 1,200 establishments licensed in Yavapai County, according to the YCCHS website. In addition to restaurants, those include everything from food trucks to schools to coffee shops and senior living facilities.
The Golden Plate Award was established in 2004 as a joint effort of YCCHS, the Yavapai County Food Safety Industry Council and the University of Arizona’s Cooperative Extension Office. Together they developed three criteria for award recipients:
- Operate the entire calendar year without a cited critical violation on an inspection.
- Safeguard their customers by implementing a YCCHS-approved food safety plan.
- Have a person-in-charge with an accepted and current manager-level food safety certificate.
To read the full story, see the Friday, March 20, edition of the Sedona Red Rock News.
