Four North Carolinians are among the 92 people in the US who’ve now been confirmed to have salmonella after coming in contact with raw chicken, CDC officials said Wednesday.

North Carolina is one of 29 states to report cases of a powerful multidrug-resistant strain of salmonella, which has now led to 21 hospitalizations.

Symptoms of the outbreak now include diarrhea, fever, and severe stomach cramps. Most victims start to experience symptoms 12 to 72 hours after being exposed to the contaminated chicken.

According to the CDC, “ill people reported preparing or eating chicken products that were purchased raw, including ground chicken, chicken pieces, and whole chicken. Ill people reported buying many different brands of raw chicken products from multiple stores. Also, one person got sick after pets in their home ate raw ground chicken pet food. Another ill person lived with someone who works in a facility that raises or processes chickens.

The outbreak strain of Salmonella Infantis has been identified in samples from raw chicken pet food, from raw chicken products from 58 slaughter and/or processing establishments, and from live chickens.”

State Superintendent Mark Johnson announced today that the N.C. Department of Public Instruction is disbursing $60 million in emergency capital funding for the public schools damaged by Hurricane Florence: $25 million from the N.C. Education Lottery fund and $35 million appropriated by the General Assembly Monday from the state’s rainy-day fund. The funds will go toward emergency capital needs for damaged schools in the 28 counties designated in President Donald Trump’s disaster declaration following the storm and flooding in September.

“I am pleased that the legislature and the governor agreed on the funds so quickly,” Johnson said. “We know the need is great, and we are wasting no time getting these funds to the schools that need them.”

Johnson alerted school districts Friday of funding from the $25 million transfer the governor approved last week, awarding the funds to five districts based on the directive to the department to use the funding to help reopen public schools that are still closed. The funding was distributed as noted below.

The funding was distributed on a pro-rata basis according to the districts’ stated need for funds to reopen closed schools. It represents neither the total amount of damage from the storm, the total amount the districts above (or other districts) have already spent on school damage, nor the amount of net state aid the districts will ultimately receive due to the storm. Jones County, for instance, has chosen not to reopen two damaged schools, partly because the state awarded the county $15 million a year ago under the state’s Needs-Based Public School Capital Fund program to begin construction of a new K-12 school building that will incorporate students from both closed schools. Likewise, Columbus County will receive $10.6 million for Columbus County Schools and $4.3 million for Whiteville City Schools in Needs-Based grants this year.

Following the unanimous passage of the 2018 Hurricane Florence Disaster Recovery Act on Monday evening, DPI will receive an additional $35 million in capital recovery funds to distribute to schools in the affected counties.

“Our school leaders have spent millions on remediation, repair, and other capital outlays because of damage from Florence,” Johnson said. “These funds will help fill the crucial gap between the needs we know are out there and what federal disaster aid, insurance proceeds, local ability to pay, and other sources will cover. Our goal is to get these remaining funds out of Raleigh as quickly as possible. Time is of the essence as these communities struggle to get back to normal.”

The emergency legislation also changed the way DPI will calculate student membership numbers, which determine how much of the $10 billion in normal funding for the operation of the state’s public schools is calculated. Any decreases in the average daily membership figure for each affected school district and charter school will be calculated based on the highest student population of the first four months rather than just the first two months of school. This change will assist districts and charters that experienced reduced membership due to student displacement from the storms.

School nutrition managers from across North Carolina have had the opportunity this summer to participate in regional K-12 Culinary Institute workshops. The School Nutrition Services Section of the Department of Public Instruction designed the institute to increase the availability of appealing, nutritious meals at school.

“Appealing meals that are filling and nutritious help students focus in the classroom,” said Lynn Harvey, chief of DPI’s School Nutrition Services Section. “The North Carolina K-12 Culinary Institute provides school nutrition managers with tools and information they can take back and implement in their school nutrition programs to ensure students receive the meals they need to do well in the classroom.”

The North Carolina K-12 Culinary Institute, developed by DPI School Nutrition Services and nationally-accomplished chef Cyndie Story’s K-12 Culinary Team, meets five core objectives:

• Improve student health, well-being and academic success through nutritious, appealing meals at school;
• Increase participation in high-quality and enticing school nutrition programs;
• Expand capacity of local school nutrition programs to purchase, prepare and serve fresh, locally grown produce;
• Increase consumption of fruits, vegetables and whole grain-rich foods; and
• Provide continuing education opportunities for school nutrition personnel.

Instructional segments cover topics such as knife skills, weighing and measuring accurately, preparing foods for just-in-time service, work simplification and scheduling, effective use of equipment, and quality food preparation and service for a variety of meats, grains, fruits, vegetables, and condiments.

The menus and recipes developed for the North Carolina K-12 Culinary Institute include:

• Scratch, convenience, and modified scratch products and techniques;
• Instructions written for production amounts consistent with pack or pan sizes commonly available in school kitchens; and
• Nutritional analysis files for easy import into software programs by local education agencies.

Participants in the North Carolina K-12 Culinary Institute graduate as chef ambassadors and culinary specialists. These ambassadors are charged with teaching skills during the workshops to other school nutrition professionals at the local district or school level. Equipping school nutrition professionals with needed equipment, educational resources and skills can positively impact the preparation, service and consumption of school meals.

Since the N.C. K-12 Culinary Institute was launched in 2016, the program has graduated 992 school nutrition managers as culinary specialists in 123 school food authorities statewide, including traditional public school districts, charters, non-public schools and residential child-care institutions. The institute is funded in part by training grants DPI’s School Nutrition Services Section received from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation.

Susan Johnson, school nutrition manager for Edgecombe County Schools and a graduate of the North Carolina K-12 Culinary Institute, said the program enhanced not only her own skills, but also has helped her develop the skills of others with whom she works.

“My experience at the North Carolina K-12 Culinary Institute was amazing,” Johnson said. “The chef instructors were wonderful and professional. This training has increased my culinary confidence and helped me train the school nutrition professionals at my school and fellow school nutrition managers in knife skills, batch cooking, merchandising, work scheduling and more. I strongly encourage all school nutrition managers to participate in the institute.”

The workshops run from June through August. Local education agencies hosting the regional workshops this summer are: Alamance-Burlington Schools, Asheville City Schools, Bertie County Schools, Craven County Schools, Hoke County Schools, New Hanover County Schools, Pitt County Schools, and Yadkin County Schools.

Questions regarding the North Carolina K-12 Culinary Institutes may be directed to NCDPI School Nutrition Services, School Nutrition Specialist Tracey Bates or (919) 696-7207.