Polk County Living
Polk County itemizer-Observer • September 7, 2016 7A
Back to school with safe lunches
Packing the right foods and using
proper handling techniques will
keep lunches safe
By Bruce Pokarney
Whether it comes in a
Pokemon Go lunch bag, Spi-
derman lunch box, or a
brown paper sack, the meal
you send to school with your
child must be packed with
care and consideration. Kids
are back in school this week
and next, and the
Oregon Department of Agri-
culture has some helpful
hints on how to make that
home-packed lunch as safe
as possible. “Children are
more susceptible to food-
borne illnesses than adults,
so it becomes even more im-
portant that we protect the
lunches they take to school,”
says Susan Kendrick, educa-
tion specialist with ODA’s
Fo o d S a f e t y P r o g r a m .
From the preparation of
the food that goes into the
lunch to the consumption of
the meal at school — and
all the steps in between —
there are several important
factors to keep in mind
for the sake of your kids.
“It all starts in the
kitchen with clean hands,
clean surfaces, and the
washing of fruits and vegeta-
bles before they are put into
the school lunch,” says
Kendrick. “We want to
avoid cross contamination.
In other words, don’t use the
same surfaces for
raw foods that you use for
cooked foods. Don’t give
those bugs a chance to hop
i n t o t h e l u n c h p a i l .”
Ma k i n g t h e l u n c h t h e
night before is a good idea so
that the preparer isn’t rushed
into doing something im-
proper, such as using dirty
surfaces. Maintaining a
proper temperature for the
school lunch is very impor-
tant. If the lunch is pre-
pared the night before, put-
ting it in the refrigerator to
keep it cold overnight is es-
sential for most foods.
“If you are going to send
a cold lunch, use a gel-pack,
a frozen individual juice box,
or a frozen sandwich as a
source of cold temperatures
so that the entire lunch can
stay cold,” says Kendrick.
If your child is going
to take a hot lunch to school,
chances are it will be some-
thing like soup, which would
probably be inside a ther-
mos. Chances are the lunch
you send to school in the
morning will be consumed
within a few hours.
Still, that’s plenty of time for
bacteria to grow if the lunch
is not stored properly. Once
again, maintaining a proper
temperature is important.
Kids need to know
that lunches are to be eaten
at lunchtime — or not at all.
There may be some excep-
tions — depending on what
foods are packed.
P ATTY
T AYLOR
D UTCHER
Columnist
supplies to the Polk County
Sheriff’s program.
—
Our annual Oregon State
Fair visit is something we
look forward to all summer
long, and this year’s fair
was every bit as fun and
enjoyable as ever. Our Polk
County 4-H members were
well represented in all cate-
gories — from horses and
cows to chickens and rab-
bits to very informative
and well-done poster
boards, clothing, photogra-
phy and other programs —
MI Town’s youth projects
were displayed for all to
see, and enjoy. We should
all be proud of the hard
Golden-Phillips
Liberty Grace Golden-Phillips was born at 8:14 a.m. on
Aug. 17 to Crista and Theran Golden-Phillips, of Inde-
pendence, at Silverton Family Birth Center.
She weighed 8 pounds, 4 ounces, and was 21 inches
long.
Liberty joins Michael-Ann, 6, Dakota, 6, and Jaxon, 1.
Grandparents are Xona and James Becker, of Camas,
Wash., Kathlene Golden, of Placentia, Calif., and David
Phillips, of Salem.
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
“Crackers, pretzels,
raisins, peanut butter sand-
wiches, and the little individ-
ual cans of fruit — these
are all things that are shelf
stable and don’t require re-
frigeration,” she says.
Sandwiches with meat,
eggs, or dairy products
should be packed directly
next to the cold source in
the container. The optimum
temperature for cold foods is
41 degrees Fahrenheit.
How do you know that’s the
temperature of the lunch?
Put together a “home test”
lunch on a Saturday or Sun-
day. Use a kitchen ther-
mometer and check
the reading throughout the
day to see how long the cold
temperature actually lasts.
Packing leftovers from
last night’s dinner is OK, as
long as that food was chilled
within two hours of cooking
and kept in the refrigerator
overnight. Another consider-
ation for the school lunch is
what your child ultimately
does with it. It is common
for kids to swap lunch items
at school, preferring a class-
mate’s cuisine instead.
“Remember that your
child’s friends may have food
allergies,” says Kendrick. “It’s
really not a good idea for
them to share their lunch
with other kids unless they
are sure those friends are not
allergic to what was brought
in the lunch.” Finally, re-
mind your children of the
importance of handwashing
before eating. Many times
recess precedes lunch. Even
more often, kids will need to
go to the bathroom some-
time before lunch. Washing
hands often with soap and
warm water is a great way to
cut down on potential food
borne illnesses. Keeping
lunches safe is every bit as
important as making them
tasty.
MI TOWN
Get out the stadium blan-
kets and be ready to cele-
brate Western Oregon Uni-
versity’s first home football
game of the season Saturday
at 1 p.m., when our Wolves
meet Central Washington
University at McArthur Sta-
dium. Our season tickets
just arrived and we’re look-
ing forward to attending
four home games this sea-
son. Individual ticket prices
are reasonable, and the
whole family can enjoy an
afternoon of college football
right here in MI Town.
—
The second annual Paws
for the Cause brought in a
good amount of needed and
necessary items for the
Willamette Valley Humane
Society, and an additional
$225 in cash donations to
help fund the Randy Whit-
taker honorary kennel, lo-
cated at the facility. Thanks
to all who participated in,
and contributed funds and
BIRTHS
work and creativity shown
by the younger members of
our community.
—
This year’s quilt displays
were exceptional, and I al-
ways admire the patience,
time and energy that it
takes to design and put to-
gether those true works of
fabric art. MI Town resi-
dent, Sharon Winegar, re-
ceived a first-place ribbon
for her beautiful quilt, Rites
of Spring, which was quilt-
ed by Cynthia Shaw. Di-
anne Nordyke designed,
created and quilted a wall
hanging featuring a Dia-
mond Match Company
boat, with workers retriev-
ing logs, that received a
first-place ribbon as well.
—
Among the award-win-
ning displays of jams, jellies
and other home canned
goodies, were those created
by Laurel Sharmer, who also
won a first prize for her
peach pie. Robert Beck’s
creativity and ingenuity was
well represented by a first
prize for pumpkin pie, as
well as another first prize
blue ribbon for a beautiful
ash liquor cabinet.
—
Construction continues at
the Monmouth Senior Cen-
ter, and we’re all looking for-
ward to having additional
space for ongoing programs
and the opportunity to bring
new offerings to MI Town in
the future. Our regular
weekly events such as yoga,
exercise and Wii bowling
continue, and we’re happy
to have the center available
during this time.
—
Our streets will be filled
with U-Hauls, trucks and
SUVs with new and return-
ing students to WOU in the
next few days. Let’s all wel-
come our new residents
and help make them feel
at home.
Continued from page 6A
TUESDAY, SEPT. 13
• Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS) Club — 6 to 7 p.m.
weigh-in, 7 to 8 p.m. meeting, First Christian Church basement,
1079 SE Jefferson St., Dallas. Meetings offer programs and activ-
ities aimed at losing weight. Open to anyone. First meeting is
free.
• Overeaters Anonymous — noon to 1 p.m., Salem Health
West Valley, 525 SE Washington St., Dallas. Support group
meets in the quiet room/chapel immediately inside the emer-
gency entrance on Clay Street. Dee Ann White, 971-718-6444.
—
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 14
• Helping Hands Emergency Food Bank — 10 a.m. to noon,
Monmouth Christian Church, 959 Church St. W., Monmouth.
For eligible community members; available every Wednesday.
541-404-6517.
• Polk County Republican Women — 11:30 a.m., Oak Knoll
Golf Course, 6335 Highway 22, independence. no-host lunch
available; everyone welcome. 503-623-5759.
• Willamette Valley Food Assistance Program Food Bank
— 1:30 to 6:30 p.m., 888 Monmouth Cutoff road, Building E,
Dallas. Weekly distribution for eligible community members.
503-831-5634.
• Free Blood Pressure Check Clinic — 2 to 3 p.m., West Val-
ley Hospital (surgery admitting area), 525 SE Washington St.,
Dallas. 503-623-7323.
• Monmouth Senior Center Music Jam — 6:30 p.m., Mon-
mouth Senior Center, 180 S. Warren St., Monmouth. Open to
the public; musicians of all types welcome. 503-838-5678.
• Brew and BS: The Old Testament — 7 p.m., St. Thomas
Episcopal Church, 1486 SW Levens St., Dallas. A lecture series
on the Old Testament. Bring brew of choice – coffee, tea, chai,
beer, wine, cider. 435-503-4304.
• Dallas American Legion Post No. 20 — 7 p.m., Academy
Building, room 108, 182 SW Academy St., Dallas. 503-831-3971.
Look
What’s
Coming
Up!
PEDEE NEWS
Excitement reined at the
Pedee Women’s Club at the
sight of so many quilts that
came in for the club’s inau-
gural quilt show this Friday
and Saturday at the club-
house. There must have
been 75 quilts stacked on
the tables to be labeled and
classified. Some of the quilts
will be for sale, too. There
will also be a “country store”
with items for sale. The
show will be from 10 a.m. to
4 p.m. this weekend.
—
New club member (and
old neighbor) Alvina Wright
and her husband George
brought his son Lee and
wife to the club’s potluck last
week. They are visiting from
A RLENE
K OVASH
Columnist
Tokyo, Japan. Lee had been
an exchange student to
Japan when he was in col-
lege, fell in love with this
beautiful Japanese girl, and,
to make a long story short,
stayed on in Tokyo, where
both teach.
—
I caught up with Kings
Valley Charter School fresh-
man Dawntae Bault on his
Polk County Fair entries. He
had entered an angel food
cake in the open class divi-
sion and got a blue ribbon.
As you may know, angel
food cakes are tricky to
make, so that was quite an
accomplishment. He also
entered his goat in the 4-H
division and received a blue
ribbon in showmanship,
plus a blue with it and her
baby in the dam and daugh-
ter class. He and his horse
Trigger got a blue ribbon for
their clever costume, Dawn-
tae in a Hawaiian shirt and
the horse in a hula skirt.
—
Steve and Audrey
Cameron have had a won-
derful summer with kids
and grandkids coming for
visits to the farm. In August,
they camped out with
d a u g h t e r, S t e p h a n i e ,
Stephen and Ana at the an-
nual family reunion at
Coffinbury Lake on the
North Coast. Grandson
Noah and granddaughter
Ana had a number of ex-
hibits at the Polk County
Fair, which Grandpa and
Grandma Cameron enjoyed
seeing. And then Audrey had
a great time at her “sisters’
retreat” with her four big sis-
ters at Lincoln City in late
August.
Now canning season is
here and it is back to work to
take care of all the fruit and
vegetables getting ripe on
the farm.
• Senior Living
• Fall Home Accent
& Car Care
• Home Front
• PC Historical
Society
Solution on Page 12A
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Itemizer-Observer
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