Health Department Inspects Fair's Food Vendors To Ensure Safety

Corn dogs, funnel cakes and all things fried... it's time for the Tulsa State Fair and all the fair food. 

The fair crowd was picking up Thursday evening after the gates opened at 5 p.m. 

People have 250 food vendor options and inspectors are looking at each and every booth. 

Food vendors spent Thursday getting ready for hungry fairgoers.

One of the burger stand vendors said they go through about 20 pounds of cheese each day. 

Over at Westmoreland Concessions, they're dealing with lemons.

"I don't know after about four or five that's when we quit counting, it's just easier that way," said Westmoreland Concessions employee Chantay Crews.  

But before the lemonade is freshly squeezed, a sanitarian with the Tulsa City-County Health Department stops by. 

Travis Splawn focuses on 57 categories.  

"The very first thing I do is I check the hand sink, make sure they have hot water, soap and paper towels," said Travis Splawn, TCCHD Sanitarian. 

His visit with the lemonade vendors is anything but sour.  

Crews said they have a cleaning system in place. 

"Cleaning is a continuous process and we kind of have the philosophy 'if you have time to lean you have time to clean,'" Crews said. 

Splawn said a lot of the food at the fair is made no differently than in restaurants. It's all cooked with commercial equipment.

"The only difference is, you're getting it out at the fair and you can get a bacon fried wrapped whatever out here that you can't get at a typical store," Splawn said. 

Despite the decadence of some of the dishes, he's not worried about calories.  

He's just focused on making sure there are no pests and that everything is clean.