Division of Environmental Health Food Safety and Sanitation Program

AFPTF Quarterly Meeting Minutes

• July 29, 2025
• 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. (Alaska)

Roll Call

Jeremy Ayers, Lorinda Lhotka, Carol Brady, Brian Himelbloom, Nathan Bruns, Brehan Corveau, Kathleen Easley, Darcy Harris, Christine Hughes, Robyn Hurley, Bobbie McDonald, Rachel Negron, Gavin Northey, Sarah Lewis, Rachel Spencer, Jason Wiard, Stephanie Won, Amy Foote, Emily Garrett, Donald Wingate, Dena Cologgi

Meeting Notes

• Opening remarks and introductions, Lorinda Lhotka
• Food Safety and Sanitation program update, Lorinda Lhotka
  • This is Lorinda's last meeting, she is retiring and this is her last week of work!
  • Three positions are out for recruitment: Environmental health officer in Fairbanks, environmental health officer in Anchorage, section manager
  • Seafood inspections are going smoothly, processing and sanitation seems to be going well during this summer season
  • Staff are busy with food provided during tourist season, state fairs, lots of people starting businesses
  • Working on homemade food outreach, answering questions
  • Shortened meetings due to reduction in grant funding for this task force

Member Updates

• Section of Epidemiology, Kathleen Easley
  • Working on website updates, just completed updates to botulism webpage
  • Held an Epi Ready training, went really well and very informative
• Office of the State Veterinarian, Robyn Hurley and Dena Cologgi
  • Two produce inspections in August
  • Continuing with education and outreach for produce
  • No updates for the dairy program
  • No updates for the Environmental Health Laboratory
• University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension, Sarah Lewis
  • New cooperative extension director
  • Sarah is providing homemade food training, looking for botulism resources to provide to groups who want to provide food preservation training
  • Fewer staff focused on food safety and prepared foods, working more with groups who have the capacity to provide food safety training, would like to offer food protection manager training again
  • Looking forward to updating publications
• Municipality of Anchorage Food Safety and Sanitation, Darcy Harris and Donald Wingate
  • No major updates, they are very busy and fully staffed with a great team
• Brian Himelbloom
  • Smoked seafood course is planned, only 20 seats
  • Other courses are available through Alaska Sea Grant, including Seafood HACCP
• Education and Early Development, Gavin Northey
  • Administrative reviews include food safety, coordinate with DEC if there are major issues
  • Food safety continues to be a concern, focusing on food safety training
  • Have a contract to make a template for food safety plans and provide training for how to write a food safety plan
• NANA Management, Amy Foote
  • Started statewide traditional foods donation program
  • Working with North American Indigenous Food Systems, providing training to staff and focusing on indigenous culinary perspectives

Action Items and Closing Remarks

• Join us in October for our next quarterly meeting!

Next Meeting

• Quarterly Meeting
• October 21, 2025
• 10:00 to 11:00 a.m.
• Virtual

Be sure to sign up for the Alaska Food Protection Task Force email list.