Category Archives: Restaurant Inspection

Food safety training can suck

Posted on by
Reply

Rob Mancini writes:

Rob_Mancini_001Food safety training is seen as an integral component in the public health system designed to reduce the likelihood of a foodborne illness.

Traditional food safety training courses are administered via classroom-based programs or on-line with little to no hands-on component. If our intention as food safety professionals is to change ones’ food safety behaviors, then it is time to resort to educational psychology- what works and what doesn’t work.

Different people learn in different ways and we must address this issue. A hands-on component is necessary to instill positive correct food safety practices and to aid in memory retention. More often than none, feedback that I receive is that there is no time to do any hands-on work, the class is too long. Not true. Reduce the amount of PowerPoint slides by eliminating the “fluff” and do some hands-on work. Students will not retain 8-hours of information in the long-term.

Paul Forsyth writes in Niagara This Week:

Many Niagara residents are likely being spared the miserable physical symptoms of food poisoning thanks to mandatory food safety training for staff at places such as restaurants, banquet halls and nursing homes, regional politicians were set to hear on June 2.

The Region, which oversees public health in Niagara, pushed for years to have the province bring in mandatory food safety training in Ontario. Faced with inaction on that front, and on the heels of some high-profile outbreaks of food poisoning, the Region brought in its own mandatory training bylaw several years ago.

A new report to regional politicians suggests a whole lot less people are enduring the wretched vomiting and diarrhea that are hallmarks of food poisoning because of safer food handling.

Environmental health manager Chris Gaspar, who wrote the report in consultation with environmental health director Bjorn Christensen, said 459 cases of food poisoning were investigated by public health last year.

But he said it’s estimated that only about 4.4 per cent of actual food poisoning cases are reported, meaning it’s likely the number of cases in Niagara was probably closer to 10,500 last year based on that ratio.

The cost of those outbreaks is astounding. In a report last year, public health staff looked at the number of food poisoning cases of campylobacter, salmonella, E. coli 0157 and shigella — just four of about 30 commonly acquired pathogens. That report noted each case can cost about $1,068 due to medical costs and lost productivity due to people being too sick to go to work, meaning the estimated 3,273 annual poisoning cases involving those four pathogens comes with a pricetag of more than $3 million in Niagara.

But Gaspar said in his new report that the number of cases of E. coli food poisoning in Niagara have plummeted  since the introduction of mandatory food safety training, dropping from two cases per 100,000 people in 2012 to just 0.2 cases per 100,000 people in 2014 — a drop of  about 90 per cent.

Why I don’t get invited to dinner and Australia still has an egg problem

Posted on by
Reply

Amy went out for dinner last night with some uni colleagues.

boatshed.menu.june.15She checked out the menu beforehand – as you do when living with a food safety type for 10 years – and I was encouraged by the 50C salmon and 65C eggs.

Unfortunately, this was the summer menu and it’s winter here.

And I noticed the aioli on the menu, and asked Amy, ask the server if it’s made with raw eggs.

Of course it was.

When those questions are asked in a restaurant, servers think you want to hear whatever is fashionable.

Ten years ago I was sitting in a B.C. restaurant with Chapman and a provincial health inspector, and ordered fish, and asked, is it farmed or wild?

He assured me it was wild.

I said I wanted farmed because that left a smaller ecological footprint.

He said, no one had ever asked for farmed, and eventually admitted that yeah, some of it was farmed.

So how are consumers supposed to know?

They don’t. It’s all faith-based.

I made dinner for Amy before she went out.

She didn’t eat the aioli.

While it’s nice that Dr Paul Armstrong, chairman of the Communicable Diseases Network Australia, acknowledged the other day that, “We have an ongoing problem with salmonella infections linked with chickens, particularly eggs,” it doesn’t help diners who are served raw-egg aioli.

Australia has an egg problem.

Which waiter left a loogie in the drinks? DNA knows

Posted on by
Reply

Police use DNA to solve murder mysteries and rapes.

They used it last year to determine who spit into a customer’s soda at a Chili’s restaurant in Clay, New York.

spit.waiter.june.15The state police crime lab compared DNA from some spit that Ken Yerdon found inside his soda with a swab of saliva from the man who had waited on Yerdon at Chili’s – Gregory Lamica.

The DNA was a match, according to court papers. Lamica was charged with disorderly conduct and pleaded guilty.

Yerdon and his wife, Julie Aluzzo-Yerdon, had dinner at Chili’s on Route 31 on July 28, as they did about once a week. Lamica, then 24, was their waiter.

They had a couple minor complaints – undercooked broccoli and chips not being served, they said. They told Lamica and he seemed annoyed with them, Ken Yerdon said.

“They were busy — we understood,” Julie Aluzzo-Yerdon said. “We were patient with him, but we could tell he was annoyed with us. All Ken said to him was, ‘Are you OK? Have we done something to offend you?’ And he said, ‘Oh, no, no.”

When they were getting ready to go, the Yerdons told Lamica they wanted to get their drinks refilled and to take them in to-go cups. Lamica brought them the cups, as if he’d expected them to pour the remains of their drinks into the cups, according to a police report.

Ken Yerdon told Lamica they wanted him to refill the cups, since the drinks on their table were almost gone, he said. Lamica seemed annoyed again, and took the cups to the back of the restaurant, Yerdon said.

On their way out, they Yerdons saw Lamica and noticed that he wouldn’t make eye contact, the police report said.

Ken Yerdon took two sips from the cup. He wasn’t able to see inside because it had a lid and was Styrofoam. As they were driving home, the lid popped off.

“I saw the spit in the cup,” Ken Yerdon told Syracuse.com. “It wasn’t regular spit either. It was definitely a loogie.”

Yerdon took a picture of it, dropped his wife and 12-year-old son off at their home in Clay and drove back to Chili’s.

Book of Mormon? Utah restaurant closed for slaughtering sheep on site

Posted on by
1

The Salt Lake County Health Department closed down a Middle Eastern restaurant on Thursday after inspectors found sheep being slaughtered in the back parking lot and goats and dogs being cared for on the premises.

Middle Eastern Pastries and Deli, 3336 S. Main, Salt Lake CityThe Middle Eastern Pastries and Deli, 3336 S. Main, Salt Lake City, was cited for 47 violations in all, creating an “imminent health hazard,” according to a report on the department website.

Among the most egregious health violations found by inspectors:

  • Live sheep are being stored and slaughtered onsite in the back parking lot.
  • A plastic bag with sheep limbs and a sheep head found in the back area.
  • Live goats and dogs being cared for on the premises and the handwashing sink blocked and not being used.
  • Kitchen is in a garage and the door is open and the kitchen is not protected from contamination.
  • Food is not separated from car oil and maintenance tools in the back lot.
  • Clean dishes are being dried and stored in the mop sink because the drain boards are not big enough to accommodate clean and dirty dishes.
  • Chicken is thawing in stagnant water outside unprotected in the back lot of the establishment.
  • A chemical spray bottle is stored above a food preparation area.
  • Raw meat is stored above ready-to-eat foods in the walk-in cooler.

59 now sick from Salmonella at UK pub

Posted on by
Reply

Here’s some tips to go along with the platitudes: look at your menu and identify raw foods, look at cross-contamination, don’t rely on government inspectors.

anson.farmA pub boss has vowed to do “everything he can” to try and find answers, as cases of salmonella among diners in Thornaby continue to rise.

The number of people who have tested positive for salmonella after eating at the Anson Farm, in Teesside Industrial Estate, now stands at 23.

In total, 59 people have reported taking ill with suspected food poisoning after eating at the pub – before a series of control measures were put in place in the week commencing May 18.

And as the investigation into possible sources of the infection continues, Richard Lewis, managing director of the Greene King-owned Farmhouse Inns chain, said he was “personally overseeing” the investigation from the pub’s side, adding: “I will do everything I can to try and find answers for those affected”.

He said: “My team is in constant touch with PHE and environmental health and continues to work tirelessly with them to try and locate a cause.

“We are awaiting the results of tests taken on site last week by environmental health in the hope that they may give us and those affected some answers.

Boston, don’t hide restaurants’ dirty secrets

Posted on by
Reply

An editorial in the Boston Globe states that last year, nearly half of the restaurants in Boston were cited by city inspectors for two of the most serious health and sanitary code violations on the books, and about 200 were written up for 10 or more violations, according to a Globe analysis of municipal records published this week. But until reporter Matt Rocheleau’s story, most of these establishments’ customers had no idea they were at risk of becoming ill.

larry.the_.cable_.guy_.health.inspector-213x300-213x300Technically, the information had been available to the public prior to the Globe report. The city publishes an online spreadsheet listing restaurant inspection results, which can be accessed through something called the Mayor’s Food Court, a web portal created in 2001. The site — which is ancient in tech years — also allows users to a search for inspection data by restaurant name. Never heard of it? You have plenty of company.

Lauren Lockwood, the city’s first chief digital officer, knows that’s a problem. “We’re focusing on the distinction of making things available versus accessible,” she said. “The city now makes a truly tremendous amount of information available online; the problem is that the access is user unfriendly.”

A better designed and promoted online database to replace the Mayor’s Food Court would be welcome. But given the serious public health considerations, technology that doesn’t necessarily require the intervention of an IT department should also be used to spread word about sanitary code violations. For instance, the city could send out a weekly e-mail bulletin that lists the latest citations.

Boston should also follow the lead of New York and San Francisco, which require restaurants to post a health code compliance grade where everyone can see. Under New York’s letter grade system, which was enacted in 2010, violations are translated into points. Fewer points mean a higher grade.

I agree.

Filion, K. and Powell, D.A. 2009.

The use of restaurant inspection disclosure systems as a means of communicating food safety information.

Journal of Foodservice 20: 287-297.

Abstract

barf.o.meter_.dec_.12-216x300-216x300The World Health Organization estimates that up to 30% of individuals in developed countries become ill from food or water each year. Up to 70% of these illnesses are estimated to be linked to food prepared at foodservice establishments. Consumer confidence in the safety of food prepared in restaurants is fragile, varying significantly from year to year, with many consumers attributing foodborne illness to foodservice. One of the key drivers of restaurant choice is consumer perception of the hygiene of a restaurant. Restaurant hygiene information is something consumers desire, and when available, may use to make dining decisions.

Filion, K. and Powell, D.A. 2011. Designing a national restaurant inspection disclosure system for New Zealand. Journal of Food Protection 74(11): 1869-1874
.

The World Health Organization estimates that up to 30% of individuals in developed countries become ill from contaminated food or water each year, and up to 70% of these illnesses are estimated to be linked to food service facilities. The aim of restaurant inspections is to reduce foodborne outbreaks and enhance consumer confidence in food service. Inspection disclosure systems have been developed as tools for consumers and incentives for food service operators. Disclosure systems are common in developed countries but are inconsistently used, possibly because previous research has not determined the best format for disclosing inspection results. This study was conducted to develop a consistent, compelling, and trusted inspection disclosure system for New Zealand. Existing international and national disclosure systems were evaluated. Two cards, a letter grade (A, B, C, or F) and a gauge (speedometer style), were designed to represent a restaurant’s inspection result and were provided to 371 premises in six districts for 3 months. Operators (n = 269) and consumers (n = 991) were interviewed to determine which card design best communicated inspection results. Less than half of the consumers noticed cards before entering the premises; these data indicated that the letter attracted more initial attention (78%) than the gauge (45%). Fifty-eight percent (38) of the operators with the gauge preferred the letter; and 79% (47) of the operators with letter preferred the letter. Eighty-eight percent (133) of the consumers in gauge districts preferred the letter, and 72% (161) of those in letter districts preferring the letter. Based on these data, the letter method was recommended for a national disclosure system for New Zealand.

Mouse infestation costs UK pub £13,000

Posted on by
Reply

I like that the UK at least fines food safety ‘tards.

alexander.pubA mouse infestation at a Weybridge pub led to multiple food hygiene offences, resulting in costs totaling more than £13,000.

Gastro UK Ltd, the company operating The Alexander pub, in Oatlands Drive, pleaded guilty to eight food hygiene offences at Redhill Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, May 19.

The charges relate to a routine inspection by a food team from Elmbridge Borough Council on August 15 last year.

Officers found evidence of a mouse infestation in ‘several areas of the business’, according to a statement released by the council, alongside poor structure and cleaning of the premises and a failure to implement a ‘suitable food safety management system’.

When officers returned on September 25 to undertake checks on compliance, the statement added, all the issues had not been resolved.

As a result, the court fined Gastro UK Ltd £1,400 per offence, amounting to £11,200, and ordered the company to pay £2,596 to the council for costs.

Kansas Sonic drive-in stores hot dog buns in restroom

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve never eaten at Sonic.

I know their goofy TV adverts but I’ve never been inspired to eat there.

Sonic-Facebook-640A photo that went viral on Facebook showing hot dog buns being stored in a Topeka Sonic Drive-in restroom eventually landed in the KSNT newsroom after multiple viewers sent in tips.

Sonic says an employee made an error by storing the bread racks in the restroom for 30 minutes. Upon realizing the error, the manager immediately removed the bread from the location and all bread was discarded. The Franchisee will counsel the employee and give additional training to the entire drive-in staff to ensure proper food safety steps are taken moving forward.”

Sonic and its franchisees primary concern has been keeping their customers safe by serving safe food.

Inspection results should be public, but have limitations

Posted on by
Reply

My philosophy on disclosing restaurant inspection information hasn’t wavered much in the past 10 years: Make inspection results public and communicate them meaningfully to help patrons make decisions. There’s a patchwork approach to disclosure throughout the world: happy faces, letter grades, number grades or the not-well-used barf-o-meter.

Whatever the system is, it’s necessary to pull back the curtain on what happens when inspectors are around. The transparency not only builds trust in the system, but also allows folks to choose businesses based on their own risk tolerance.barf.o.meter_.dec_.12-216x300

But the inspection grades, alone, don’t tell patrons whether they are likely to get sick eating at the restaurant. To get a better picture the hungry (and interested) have to dive a bit deeper into what’s behind the grade – and if there are historical issues that keep coming up. That’s kind of what I told Lydia Coutré of Star News.

The posted score offers transparency and a point-in-time snapshot of the establishment’s food safety procedures. But because there’s a wide range of issues that could put a restaurant at a 100, a 95 or an 85, that number alone isn’t the full picture, said Ben Chapman, food safety specialist and associate professor at N.C. State University.
It’s just one day and could be a good or bad day for the facility and staff.
“The grading system doesn’t tell you whether you should eat at a restaurant or not,” Chapman said.

Whether a consumer “should” eat somewhere is up to the market.
Restaurants can earn a score as low as 70. Below that, a facility’s permit would be revoked.

Alicia Pickett, New Hanover environmental health supervisor, said as long as the restaurant falls in that 70 to 100 range, “it’s for the public to decide.”

A mid-80s score could come from several issues adding up such as cracked tiles, broken lights and dirty baseboards, Chapman said. Or it could represent an organizational problem where hand washing isn’t valued.

Doing more research into what violations led to the score and looking at trends over time can give consumers a better picture of the food safety procedures at a facility, Chapman said.

If there’s an issue that shows up time and time again and isn’t being fixed, that represents a different problem than a restaurant that was dinged for cracked equipment that they fixed or replaced by the next inspection.

The George on the Riverwalk Executive Chef Larry Fuller knows what it takes to get high marks – and what would leave a restaurant with a lower score.

When he goes out to eat, it’s the first thing he looks at. And he’s not alone, he said.
“We get customers coming in like we came here because of your health grade,” Fuller said of the 100 score the restaurant earned at its most recent inspection. “I mean they say that directly to our waitresses and our waiters, and I think that’s awesome.”

The 100 score is a point of pride for Fuller and his staff, and he wants to maintain that number.

“The health grade is a big part of the restaurant business,” Fuller said. “It’ll make or break your restaurant.”

But the grade may not tell you much about the food handling practices when the inspector isn’t around.

Boston eateries cited for serious violations

Posted on by
1

City inspectors last year found multiple instances of the most serious type of health and sanitary code violations at nearly half of Boston’s restaurants and food service locations, according to a Globe review of municipal data.

At least two violations that can cause foodborne illness — the most serious of three levels — were discovered at more than 1,350 restaurants across Boston during 2014, according to records of inspections at every establishment in the city that serves food, including upscale dining locations, company cafeterias, takeout and fast-food restaurants, and food trucks.

Five or more of the most serious violations were discovered at more than 500 locations, or about 18 percent of all restaurants in the city, and 10 or more of the most serious violations were identified at about 200 eateries.

A violation is classified under the most serious category when inspectors observe improper practices or procedures that research has identified as the most prevalent contributing factors of foodborne illness.

Examples of such infractions include: not storing food or washing dishes at proper temperatures, employees not following hand-washing and glove-wearing protocols, and evidence that insects or rodents have been near food.

Last year, the location with the highest total of the most serious types of violation was Best Barbecue Kitchen, a small butcher shop and takeout restaurant on Beach Street in Chinatown, which racked up 70 such violations, according to city records.

That restaurant also had the highest total of violations in all categories — at 219 — last year. As of last month, Best Barbecue Kitchen had accumulated the highest number of the most serious violations: 130, dating back to 2007, when the city began posting the data online. It also had the second-highest total of violations of any type: 614.

The restaurant that had the second-highest total of the most serious violations last year was Cosi, a cafe and sandwich chain inside South Station, where 50 were found. The restaurant with the third-highest total of the most serious violations last year could be found several feet away inside South Station: Master Wok, which had 45.

Staff members at all three restaurants declined to comment last week and requests to speak with managers went unanswered.

Bob Luz, president and chief executive of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, said the safety of customers is the top priority for restaurant owners.

“Food safety is number one for every restaurateur in the state, and obviously it’s something we consider as incredibly important,” said Luz.

Uh-huh.