Andrea Sherrill is the Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) Extension Agent for the Iredell County Cooperative Extension. One of her core areas of expertise is community food safety, where she works directly with residents, home cooks, and commercial food service professionals.
Below is an overview of the food safety initiatives and resources she leads in Iredell County:
1. Commercial Food Safety: Safe Plates & ServSafe Training
To support local restaurants, school cafeterias, and grocery stores, Andrea coordinates and teaches professional food safety manager certification courses:
- Safe Plates for Food Managers: This is N.C. State Extension’s signature training program. It prepares local food service managers for the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) approved exam.
- The Goal: To equip local establishments with the skills to minimize food safety risks through best practices, proper temperature controls, and contamination prevention.
- Credentials: Passing this exam earns participants a Certified Food Protection Manager certificate, which meets FDA Food Code requirements and is recognized across North Carolina and nationwide for five years.
2. Home Food Safety & Preservation
For home cooks and local families, Andrea provides hands-on, research-backed guidance on how to safely handle and preserve food:
- Home Canning & Freezing: She teaches residents how to safely preserve seasonal harvests using correct processing times, pressures, and acidity levels to prevent dangerous foodborne pathogens, such as Clostridium botulinum (the bacteria that causes botulism).
- Dine & Demo Series: She hosts "Dine & Demo" lunch-and-learn sessions designed to simplify and demystify home food preservation methods.
3. Key Principles of Everyday Food Safety
Through workshops and county outreach, the Iredell County Cooperative Extension emphasizes four fundamental pillars of keeping food safe at home:
- Clean: Washing hands, cutting boards, utensils, and countertops frequently to prevent the spread of bacteria.
- Separate: Keeping raw meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs separate from ready-to-eat foods to prevent cross-contamination.
- Cook: Using a food thermometer to ensure foods are cooked to their safe minimum internal temperatures (such as 165°F for poultry or 145°F for whole cuts of beef and pork).
- Chill: Refrigerating perishable foods and leftovers within two hours (or one hour if the air temperature is above 90°F) to slow down bacterial growth.
Contact Information
If you are an Iredell County resident looking for upcoming food safety classes, need your pressure canner lid tested, or have questions about safe food handling, you can reach out directly:
- Office Location: 444 Bristol Dr, Room 110, Statesville, NC 28677
- Phone: (704) 878-3157
- Email: andrea_sherrill@ncsu.edu