Santa Barbara Library to offer food protection management courses

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Santa Barbara Public Library is expanding its ServSafe Food Handler Program to include food protection management courses, connecting food service workers with free access to the certification required for employment.

The library's workforce development program already offered scholarships for restaurant workers to earn food handlers certifications as part of a grant-funded initiative, and will now add quarterly food protection management courses at the Eastside Library.

“This grant-funded program has been helpful for local businesses and job-seekers,” said Library Director Jessica Cadiente. “It’s an example of just one of the many ways that library staff hear about a need in our community and then work with local organizations to help meet that need.”

The food protection management training courses and exams will help eliminate barriers for local food industry employees by making the course free and available locally, according to Ahmad Merza, supervising librarian.

The nearest exam sites currently are more than 35 miles away in Ventura or Santa Maria, Merza added.

The classes will be taught by Santa Barbara City College staff, and the classes will be taught in English with an English as a second language teacher on-site to support non-native English speakers.

The textbooks and exams are available in English and Spanish.

The exam review will take place on April 23 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Eastside Library, located at 1102 E. Montecito Street. The exam will take place on April 30 at the same location and same time.

Both sessions are required to complete the certification process, Merza said.

Click here to enroll in the free class, using course number 68299, and click here for more information about the library's programs and services.