Niagara Region politicians are calling on the province to make food safety preparation training mandatory for everyone in Ontario employed in the preparation and serving of food to the public.
The story says that the move comes on the heels of several high-profile incidents this summer of food poisoning in Niagara.
The region is also forging ahead with its own plans for a bylaw to require mandatory safety training for food handlers and servers. That’s expected to come later this year or early next year. But regional politicians said the best solution would be a provincewide rule requiring mandatory training.
"Parenting and preparing food are about the only two activities that no longer require some kind of certification in Western countries. For example, to coach little girls playing ice hockey in Canada requires 16 hours of training. To coach kids on a travel team requires an additional 24 hours of training.
"It’s unclear how many illnesses can be traced to restaurants, but every week there is at least one restaurant-related outbreak reported in the news media somewhere. Cross-contamination, lack of handwashing and improper cooking or holding temperatures are all common themes in these outbreaks — the very same infractions that restaurant operators and employees should be reminded of during training sessions, and are judged on during inspections. Some jurisdictions — such as the city of Fort Worth, Texas — place so much importance on teaching these lessons they require mandatory food handler licenses and have invested in an infrastructure of training that demonstrates the city’s commitment to public health. Other cities and states have no training requirement.
"There should be mandatory food handler training, for say, three hours, that could happen in school, on the job, whatever. But training is only a beginning. Just because you tell someone to wash the poop off their hands before they prepare salad for 100 people doesn’t mean it is going to happen; weekly outbreaks of hepatitis A confirm this. There are a number of additional carrots and sticks that can be used to create a culture that values microbiologically safe food and a work environment that rewards hygienic behavior. But mandating basic training is a start."