Departments

Food Safety Training

Submitted by Courtney John-Jemison, Planning Department

The SNI Planning Department, Training Employment and Resource Center (TERC), Business Permits office, and Seneca Nation of Indians Economic Development Company (SNIEDC) have partnered together to provide trainings for our Seneca owned and on Territory businesses to help them with health and safety trainings post pandemic. A flyer was sent out 3 months ago, followed up by postings in the newsletter and social media to reach out to businesses to help in some small way.

Our 1st collaboration was to coordinate a ServSafe Food Safety training for Food Vendors and Restaurants. It’s been a trying year for some food businesses. They took a hit with the closure of indoor dining, outdoor event cancellations, and the switch to meal pick ups and giveaways. The training was also opened up to Nation Departments that handle food. Due to pandemic capacity restrictions we could only offer the classes at a max of 20 people. We partnered with the Seneca Allegany Casino and were able to have it there with ample room for participants to safely social distance.

Day one was targeted to Food Managers. These were the main ones running the kitchen, handle the ordering, staffing, etc. It was very in-depth in terms of bringing awareness of temperatures, cross contamination, allergens, and expiration dates. The participants finished up by taking an exam. Day two was for Food Handlers. These are the front-line staff that are mainly serving and assist in preparing meals. This was a three-and-a-half-hour training followed by a test. Shannon Seneca, Environmental Health Director from the Seneca Nation Health System, came to every session and went over the Seneca Nations stance on food safety.

We are grateful to all the participants for their feedback and hope they share their knowledge to coworkers and employees to keep our people safe. Other trainings will be offered in the future. Nya:wëh!

Businesses and Departments that took the training:

Root 438 Café- Rachel Johns
CJ Best (Kettle Corn and More)- Jason Seneca
Seneca Allegany Casino
Bigfoot Snack Shack
Hakuna Matata Nutrition
Deli O’s and BTR Brews
Three Wolves Gifts and Confections
Rhonda Powless Catering
Murphy’s Concessions
Gakwi:yo:h Farms
ECLC- Cattaraugus
Allegany Education
Seneca One Stop
Cattaraugus Education
Jamieson Productions, Beanie Jamieson
Sassy’s Truck Stop
Harvest Moon