Before serving one dish, however, all the food vendors must go through an inspection process overseen by sanitarians at the Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department.

Sanitarian Laughlin Johnson said initial inspections will begin today as vendors continue to arrive at the festival site, located along Water Street. Annually about 25 food trucks attend the event, selling hot and cold dishes to the thousands of people who will attend the festival through Sunday.

Johnson said each vendor must have a permit from the health department prior to selling food at the festival. Each will receive a routine health inspection similar to what a regular restaurant would receive. Two key aspects are cleanliness and making sure they have a working water hookup, which is provided by the city of Wheeling.

Around lunch time and dinner time each day, sanitiarians will do spot checks to make sure the food being served is being cooked and handled properly.

photo by: Photo by Shelley Hanson

Tony Filberto, chairman of the Undo’s Upper Ohio Valley Italian Heritage Festival board of directors, drives a golf cart while helping vendors find their spots on Thursday afternoon on Water Street at Wheeling Heritage Port. The festival kicks off at noon today and runs through Sunday.

“Basically, temperature control is what we’re there for and anything else that might appear out of order we will have them correct,” Johnson said.

Food vendors must keep their food out of the “temperature danger zone” in order to keep people from getting sick. Cold food must be kept at 41 degrees or colder. Hot food must be kept at 135 degrees or hotter.

“Anytime those foods get in the danger zone, they have the potential for bacteria to start to grow. We make sure they keep the hot food hot and the cold food cold,” he said.

Johnson said it would be unusual for a vendor to be shut down during the festival. He noted several years ago there was a food vendor at the festival that was not allowed to open because of red flags.

“It was their first time and they were from out of state. The best way to describe it is that it was not a healthy situation. Their equipment wasn’t clean and some of the food you could tell was not good food – there was an odor about it,” he said.

photo by: Photo by Shelley Hanson

Food vendors get their stations ready on Thursday afternoon for today’s noon opening of the Undo’s Upper Ohio Valley Italian Heritage Festival at Heritage Port in Wheeling.

Johnson said the food vendors typically work with the health department, and sanitarians try to be mindful of the cooks’ work.

“The vendors cooperate with us. They’re very aware that we need to come through; it’s the same situation whatever county they go to,” he said.

“If we receive a complaint that someone feels something was not right or needs checked on, once we hear about it we send someone down to look a specific vendor over, about what might be going on,” he added.

Johnson said the “goal is to keep everybody safe.”

“It’s a busy time for us during any festival,” Johnson said. “The Italian Festival is our oldest and largest. It started on Market Street in the old days and it moved to the waterfront. The waterfront is an ideal place for a festival because there is a nice breeze off the river. It’s more open – it lends well for a festival event.”