State health officials and members of the restaurant industry plan to ask the legislature to update Tennessee’s 1976 food safety law.

Hugh Atkins, who oversees restaurant inspections for the Tennessee Department of Health, told The Tennessean, “Our rules are so old they don’t even address sushi.”

The Tennessee Food Safety Task Force first considered tweaking compliance rules but finally decided the law itself needed a complete overhaul.

The statute, more than three decades old, does not prohibit restaurant employees from fingering your food and lists temperature requirements for already-cooked dishes that can cause mashed potatoes to get crusty and meats to get leathery.

Task force members say the law wastes resources, falls short of federally recommended standards and can penalize restaurants that operate in older buildings.

“Tattoo establishments get four inspections a year,” Atkins said. “Pools get inspections every month they are in operation.”

All food establishments have to be inspected once during the first half of a calendar year and once during the second half — even The Peanut Shop in Nashville’s historic Arcade. Atkins would prefer a once-a-year check at a candy shop so inspectors would have more time to double up on a problem restaurant.