Last week I was honored to attend the county’s Golden A Awards ceremony. This event is hosted by the Environmental Health Division of the Brunswick County Health Services and held at Odell Williamson Event Center at Brunswick Community College.
Environmental Health is responsible for inspecting the food service operations in Brunswick County. The reason for the Golden A Ceremony is to celebrate and recognize those restaurants and other food service operations that have gotten a 95% or above on each of their required health inspections during 2025. In his opening remarks, Health Director David Howard said this is a very special event each year and day-in-and-day-out It was the workers in these operations that do the hard work.
Danny Thornton the Environmental Health Director shared the award’s background. This is the 27 th year that the Golden A Awards have been given. He announced that there are 577 food service operations that are inspected here in Brunswick County (up from 550 last year). This includes restaurants, food stands, meat markets, senior sites, institutional food services—nursing home dietary, pushcarts, mobile food units and school lunchrooms. Out of them, 417 got the Golden A this year. That’s 72% of all the food service establishments in the county receiving these impressive scores (increase from 67% last year). Wow! Among these winners were all 18 of the county’s schools and all three of the senior center sites. Thornton said it was an honor to be in a room with these award winners. He congratulated and thanked them for the important work they do every day to keep the community safe.
Even more impressive are those that got Platinum A awards. This award is given to operations that have received a Golden A Award for five years in a row. There were 182 Platinum A’s awarded. You can check out the listing of past Golden A and Platinum A award winners on Environmental Health’s webpage at brunswickcountync.gov. This year’s awardees will be posted soon. Those recognized were given framed certificates that you can see posted in their locations---be sure to look for them and feel confident that these folks set a high standard for food safety!
I was invited to participate in this event because of the partnership between the Environmental Health Department and our N.C. Cooperative Extension Service here in Brunswick County. I have trained many of the folks getting these awards in food safety. Our office offers a Food Safety Manager Certification class called Safe Plates. This is an evidence-based program designed at NC State that provides training on food safety standards for managing food safety in a food service operation.
I had the opportunity to recognize some of these Safe Plates participants. After taking the Safe Plates class, participants take an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) test from the National Registry of Food Safety Professionals. Upon successfully passing this test they receive their Food Safety Manager Certification. There were two Safe Plates students that received 95% or above on this test in 2025. These were: David Gomez from the Scoop in Holden Beach (they also got a Platinum A) and David Leisinger from the Brunswick County Schools. Good job gentlemen. For those who have taken the test, you know this is a great accomplishment.
Safe Plates classes incorporate the best available science in food safety and is based on the Food and Drug Administration’s 2022 Food Code. We offer these classes several times a year with the assistance of staff members from Environmental Health. Our next Safe Plates class will be April 13 and 20 at the Southport Oak Island Chamber of Commerce. Check our website or give our office a call for details.
I’m so proud of all of the folks that received a Golden or Platinum A award. This recognition is a testimony to their commitment to food safety and the food safety culture of their operations. As a food safety instructor, I know this doesn’t just happen, it takes a lot of work on their part. This is great news for all of us who live and eat here in Brunswick County.
Brunswick County Center Syracuse is a Family and Consumer Science team member and can be reached at N.C. Cooperative Extension, Brunswick County Center 910-253-2610 or clsyracu@ncsu.edu
