Recommendations for Judges and Volunteers
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- Do not judge or volunteer at the fair if you are sick or do not feel well.
- Follow common-sense steps such as washing hands often and coveringcoughs and sneezes.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
- Make sure surfaces used to judge foods are clean.
- Use good food safety practices when handling baked items. Everything that touches the food should be clean including hands, knives, forks, spoons, cutting boards, etc.
- Discard any food that the judge has directly tasted.
- Items that require refrigeration will not be accepted, judged, or displayed as exhibits must be safe to eat when entered, whether they are tasted or not.
- Do not taste questionable food items.
- Glazes, frostings, and other sugar-based toppings are considered safe due to their high sugar content. Egg glazes on yeast breads and pie crusts BEFORE baking are acceptable. Eggs incorporated into baked goods and crusts are considered safe.
- The following food ingredients are considered unsafe for fair exhibits and will be disqualified:
Egg or cream fillings and cream cheese frostings
Any meat item including meat jerky, imitation meat bits (bacon bits, pepperoni, etc.)
Melted cheese on top of food exhibit (cheese mixed into baked goods is considered safe and will be accepted)
Uncooked fruit toppings (i.e., fresh fruit tart)
Check with your local health department for any recommendations that apply to your specific location.
Source: Keep Food Safe! Food Safety Basics, Food Safety and Inspection Service, United States Department of Agriculture
