Tulsa Health Dept. Works With Tulsa State Fair Vendors To Keep Food Safe

About 165 vendors will be serving sweet, salty, and fried food at the Tulsa State Fair, starting this Thursday.  

The Tulsa Health Department said it is making sure folks can snack safely.  

"This is the honest to God truth. I have been trying all summer to get me a corndog," said John Christopher.  

Christopher has a lot to do before he can get that corndog.  

“I just come out to see my son's stuff that he's put up and make sure he's done it correctly,” said Christopher.  

He spent decades serving everything from cookies and cotton candy to cheese curds. Still, he said it never gets old.  

"Quite an adventure to come in and see people from years ago,” said Christopher.  

Carol Wells with Lickity Splits has served at the Tulsa State Fair since 2001. 

"We're kind of invested in ice cream,” said Wells.  

After the fair was canceled last year, she's ready to be back. 

"We were thankful that when we pulled everything out of storage it worked,” said Wells.  

The Tulsa Health Department is working with these vendors to conduct food inspections and provide them with the proper city and state licenses. Inspectors will put in nearly 610 hours during the fair completing about 495 food inspections.  

"Lot of equipment. Lot to set up. Lot of equipment to be investigated,” said Wells.  

THD is tasked with things like making sure the food is coming from good sources to regulating temperatures, inspecting equipment, and teaching proper handwashing techniques.  

"We're out here to protect public health, work with our vendors to ensure that they have those safe food safety principles in mind as they work with putting the food out the window,” said DeBrena Hilton, Food Program Manager with THD. 

THD said inspectors have performed more than 16,500 inspections of about 4,800 local food service establishments over the past two years.  

Christopher and Wells said come hungry because they’ll be ready to serve safely.