Author Archives: Katie Filion

Making restaurant selection easy: website launch in UK city reveals hygiene scores

Posted on by
1

Consumers in Litchfield, England will soon be able to access restaurant hygiene scores (and much more) online, reports The Lichfield Blog.

In Lichfield restaurant hygiene scores are displayed at the premise, in the form of a card (with a maximum of 5 stars, similar to Scores on Doors, pictured right). The updated website offers an alternate or additional tool for consumers to access restaurant hygiene information.

Councillor Ben Adams, Cabinet Member for Community Housing and Health, said of the new site,

“Through the website and certificates, displayed on the doors of food premises, it allows customers to have peace of mind that the establishment they are planning visit has good hygiene procedures. It also acts as an incentive to premises managers, who try to improve their standards to get the best possible star rating the next time they are inspected.”

[Lichfield District Council] is confident visitors to the updated website will find it even easier to discover how many gold stars food premises have been awarded for their food hygiene practices following an inspection…[The site], www.ratemyplace.org.uk, has a host of new features, including the ability to search an area’s ‘Top Spots’ to see which premises have been awarded the maximum five gold stars… and information about where the premises is, what type of food it serves, as well as a map and directions straight to the door.

The website, which will be launched later this week, sounds handy, and hopefully disclosure at the premise in the form of grade-cards will keep consumer interest in the website.

Jason Mraz on how to wipe your azz

Posted on by
Reply

For the past few weeks my morning routine has involved listening to the radio while making myself presentable, and it seems like every morning the same songs play. One of the radio-repeat songs is titled “I’m Yours” and is sung by Jason Mraz, a fellow blogger.

In an attempt to save the planet, Mr. Mraz provides tips for using less toilet paper,

– Start small. Challenge yourself to use only 8 squares in your session. We’ve all been in that place where it’s close to the cardboard roll and you have to be MacGuyver to make a clean get-away. This will force you to get creative while taking good care of each square.

– Use both sides. I mean that. I bet some people are afraid to look at or get close to their own skid-marks. But I say it’s better to know how your body’s handling the business of your health. Fold the paper again and again using a clean angle from the very same square. There’s a lot of real estate wasted on each sheet when you only wipe once.

– Should you find the paper too thin and become the victim of too many breakthroughs, try using a stronger material as a backing. This worked when I was camping. The paper wasn’t holding up in the dampness of camp, so I used a leaf to give the paper more strength from behind. Plus the leaf was textured, which handled the job with far more efficiency than just the paper by itself.

Though I found Mr. Mraz’s post quite entertaining, I wish he would have mentioned the importance of handwashing post-wipe, especially when one of these MacGuyver techniques fails and you get a bit of breakthrough. Oh, and the picture, right, is what he originally posted on Myspace.

  

Tour group affected by Noro in British Columbia

Posted on by
Reply

Not a scheduled stop on a BC tour, a group of travelers from Australia became ill with Norwalk virus while staying at the Fairmont Chateau this week, reports Whistlerquestion.com.

Twenty-three guests were quarantined in their rooms for most of Monday and part of Tuesday (June 1 and 2), suffering from Norwalk virus, a public health official said this week.

The guests were part of a 100-member tour group from the Brisbane area in Australia.

 Dr. Paul Martiquet, public health officer with Vancouver Coastal Health, explained,

“Apparently there’s something in common that has caused [this group] to come down with this Norwalk virus.”

[T]he affected tour group recently rode the Rocky Mountaineer train from Calgary to Vancouver before visiting Whistler. The next stop on the itinerary was the Empress Hotel in Victoria, [Martiquet] said. Healthy members of the group were allowed to carry on with their itinerary.

Martiquet emphasized the importance of handwashing in control of noroviruses, continuing,

“It’s basically self-limiting and the key for any virus is handwashing — that goes for normal viruses or Norovirus, you name it.”

Texas teen eats toxic pig testicles on a dare

Posted on by
Reply

High school biology classes often involve dissections. I distinctly remember the day my teacher, Mr. Deluca, brought in the fetal pigs. My partner was queezy at the thought of cutting open the little piggys, so I ended up doing most of the work, and truthfully was unphased by the dissection apart from the strong smell of formaldehyde in the classroom.

A teenage boy in Texas was less put-off by the smell of formaldehyde when he ate the testicles from a fetal pig on a dare during the class dissection, reports the Dallas Morning News.

Last week at Shepton High School in Plano, a ninth-grader agreed to eat parts of a fetal pig – and not just any parts – for $50. [The boy] gulped them down one at a time, he said, trying not to bite down.

The 15-year old boy, explained,

"It was just like swallowing a pill. It wasn’t that bad."

School officials, who declined to comment, apparently took a different view, especially because the pigs are soaked in formaldehyde, a toxic chemical used to preserve the tissue.

The boy was sent to the hospital, but appears fine, commenting,

"It wasn’t very smart.”

Restaurant grades on the other side of the world

Posted on by
Reply

It’s been just over a week since I landed in Wellington, New Zealand. The Kiwis have been friendly, and I’ve gotten better at understanding the accent (for the most part).

As part of my induction into the food safety group on this side of the world, we journeyed up to Palmerston North, about 2 hours from Wellington. A lunch break Tuesday at Cafe Esplanade was my first sighting of restaurant inspection grades in New Zealand: a bright green A (pictured right) displayed next to the cafe’s cash register. I snapped a few photos, and one of my colleagues commented about me being an obvious tourist.

Wacky women at the Waffle House

Posted on by
Reply

On Sunday my Kansas family and I went out for brunch at a local restaurant. I ordered French toast, which I was less than impressed with, but since it was a busy day I didn’t throw my breakfast at the waitress.

An angry South Carolina Waffle House patron did throw a waffle at her waitress, which lead to an altercation involving a gun, reports WLTX.com.

 [Crystal Samuel] didn’t get what she came for. Instead, she says while she waited for her order, her friends started eating. That’s when Samuel says she was told they couldn’t eat from carryout trays inside the restaurant.

The two proceeded to have a verbal argument inside the restaurant, and Samuel admits,

"I did actually throw some food but it didn’t hit her. That’s when she [Yakeisha Ward, the waitress] jumped across the counter and we got into it."

The altercation moved outside, where Ward went to her car, got a gun, and attempted to shoot Samuel.

Ward has bonded out of jail. On Tuesday afternoon, News 19 found her inside the Waffle House where the incident happened.
 

Mallrats beware: baby rodent found in food court stir-fry

Posted on by
Reply

I have not seen the 1995 Kevin Smith movie Mallrats, though my cultural education has exposed me to Clerks and Monty Python. Perhaps Mallrats is next. 

Canadian mallrats dining at a Winnipeg Sizzling Wok restaurant were disgusted to find a baby rodent in their stir-fry, reports CTV Winnipeg.

The mall, [St. Vital Centre], says it contacted the Health Department, and adds the restaurant will not re-open until it is cleared by health inspectors.

Mike LeBlanc, manager of Public Health Inspection Programs, said of the incident,

"I’m shocked and dismayed. This obviously is a very disturbing finding. It does not at all meet the threshold of what we even consider acceptable food practices."

The couple that found the rodent chose not to discuss the experience with media. It has been undetermined whether the rodent (pictured right, next to the Canadian dollar, aka, Loonie) is a mouse or a rat, or whether it originated within the restaurant or from a food supplier.

The CTV news source is filled with consumer comments about the restaurant, with one comment mentioning previous rodent sightings in the mall food court. Should’ve had a camera-phone.

Marketing the hell out of restaurant inspection results

Posted on by
Reply

That’s what Wayne Strong, president of Ye Old Walkerville Bed & Breakfast in Windsor, ON wants to do with his latest inspection score, reports the Windsor Star.

The star-rating system called Safe Food Counts will be rolled out over the next few months as businesses [in Windsor-Essex County] are inspected.

Strong embraces the public disclosure system, saying,

"Once you are, as a facility, able to get five stars, market the hell out of it. A community that is enlightened about the system will look for a five-star place. I welcome this. I think for people who do the right thing, this is an affirmation of what I’m doing is right."

Strong’s got the right attitude. Establishments that have nothing to hide will embrace the public disclosure system, and see it as an opportunity to market food safety.

Some restaurant workers like Derek Dulyk, of Market Place restaurant in the Holiday Inn Select, are weary of the system, and feel a description of infractions should be posted along side star-ratings at an establishment,

"If you get a four over a five star because a paper towel dispenser is jammed, if it’s something as minor as that, I think your customers should be aware"

There are many systems to communicate inspection results to the public. Some use disclosure at the door, others websites. Either way consumers are interested in this information, and it’s a good thing when it’s made publicly available.
 

Jon and Kate Plus 8: Petting zoo for kids, just petting for Jon

Posted on by
Reply

Kate Gosselin of Jon and Kate Plus 8 was on the Today Show this morning addressing husband Jon’s alleged affair, while TLC ran re-runs of the popular reality show. 

This morning’s re-run was an episode I’ve seen before, where the Gosselin gang visits the Pittsburg Zoo. There was plenty of petting, including little Alexis’s chance to pet a real live “aldergator” (a.k.a. alligator), yet no noticeable handwashing.

Wash those hands Gosselin gang. That means you, too, Jon.
 

Shades Restaurant serves shady food

Posted on by
1

In Columbus, Ohio diners have restaurant inspection information readily available to them – inspection reports are posted on the Public Health website, and colour-coded signs are displayed conspicuously at restaurant premises.

Making inspection results accessible to the public may help consumers make dining decisions, but it won’t necessarily prevent restaurants from serving shady food. NBC 4i reports that during a March 19th inspection Shades Restaurant received 11 critical violations, an inspection that lead to a review by local health officials to determine what actions will be taken against the eatery.

Inspectors found alleged unsafe practices, including cross-contamination of raw and ready-to-eat foods, unclean food surfaces and improper date-marking.

Shades Restaurant has received poor inspection results in the past.

Food-safety inspectors found similar issues in 2008, and the owner voluntarily shut down the business for four months.

Marc Ryder, manager of Shades Restaurant, said,

“Since we reopened, we’ve seen over 8,000 people. We serve great food. Great prices. And, it’s a historical landmark in Columbus.”

Ryder didn’t boast about the safety of Shades food for a reason I suppose.