Jefferson County Department of Health and Environment (JCDHE) Food Safety Program has selected four food establishments as recipients of the 8th annual 2008 Leader in Food Safety award. The Leaders in Food Safety are:

Red Lobster - 4455 Wadsworth Blvd, Wheat Ridge

Red Lobster - 810 S Wadsworth Blvd, Lakewood

Red Lobster - 5656 S Wadsworth Blvd, Littleton

Yard House - 14,500 W Colfax Ave, Lakewood

The awards were presented in person to each of the establishments on Friday, Sept. 26. The Leader in Food Safety Award is designed to recognize restaurants and other food service establishments in Jefferson County for their exemplary food safety practices. "Food establishments that consistently demonstrate a commitment to safe food handling and preparation are essential to our goal of reducing the incidence of food-borne illness. We want to thank the staff and the management of these establishments for their prevention efforts." says Dave Hooker, Consumer Protection Supervisor. The "Leader in Food Safety" award is presented each year in September during National Food Safety Education Month.

The four restaurants were selected after careful review of over 1,900 food service establishments. The food service operations in these establishments have excellent inspection records, place a high value on food safety education by training their staff, and continually monitoring food safety procedures.

The nominations were made by the Environmental Health Specialists who perform over 3,500 routine food safety inspections each year in Jefferson County. Preventing food-borne illness and death remains a public health challenge. CDC estimates that each year 76 million cases of foodborne illness occur and more than 300,000 persons are hospitalized and 5,000 die from foodborne illness. There are approximately 1.2 million cases each year in Colorado.

Leader in Food Safety Award Criteria-

Operators have placed a high value on safe food handling practices and training by:

· No critical violations in a 12-month period involving food temperatures, cross contamination, and hand washing that have not been corrected as required.

· Demonstrating a commitment to food safety by reducing or eliminating critical violations.

· Routine provision of an "Excellence in Food Safety" class or equivalent program for employees

· No documented cases of Food-borne illness during the past 12 months.

For more information on the Leader in Food Safety award or on the department's food safety program, please call Environmental Health Services at 303-271-5700 or visit our web site at http:// health.jeffco.us.