NY woman takes cat on ‘romantic dinner date’ at restaurant

Posted on May 8, 2015 by Douglas Powell

A woman took a cat to dinner Tuesday evening at a Broadway restaurant, sitting the feline across from her at their outdoor table before leaving without ordering any food, a witness said.

The pair was at the Upper West branch of RedFarm, according to local resident Jessie Auritt, who snapped a picture of the unusual sight and posted it to her Instagram account.

The cat, bedecked in a red bandana and attached to a leash the woman had loosely looped around her wrist, is shown in the photo sitting up in its chair during the “romantic dinner date for two,” she quipped in her post.

RedFarm owner Ed Schoenfeld said it wasn’t the first time the woman and her cat turned up at his restaurant.

“This woman has tried to eat at our restaurant previously with her cat and we’ve denied her service in order to be compliant with the law,” he explained.

The state health code states that pets, except for service animals or police dogs, are not allowed in restaurants or outdoor dining areas, a Health Department spokesman said.

Faith-based food safety? New York church may face eviction after health violations found in food pantry

Posted on May 7, 2015 by Douglas Powell

A South Bronx church known for its food drives is facing eviction yet again in the wake of a city inspection that found unsanitary conditions in its food pantry.

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene inspected the pantry at Word of Life International Church on April 17 and found evidence of fresh rat droppings, spoiled food and holes in the ceiling where rodents could enter, according to an agency spokesman.

“Despite Word of Life having more than a week to clean their facility in anticipation of an inspection, the DOHMH found that conditions were unsanitary and unsafe,” said Jonathan Stenger, spokesman for The Osborne Association, the church’s landlord. “Osborne has worked as a not-for-profit agency in this community for 25 years and believes that our neighbors deserve safe and hygienic food.”

Osborne has terminated the church’s lease and is proceeding to evict Word of Life as its tenant after the church refused to let Osborne inspect the building’s facilities, going against its lease, Stenger said.

Tennessee Harris Teeter closes meat dept. after I-Team investigation

Posted on May 7, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Harris Teeter grocery stores are soon leaving the Nashville market, but they have completely shut down the meat department at the Brentwood location.

The Channel 4 I-Team has been investigating allegations of re-labeling and outdated meat and spoiled seafood being sold at the store.

Additional lab tests on the meat and seafood the I-Team purchased have turned up some unusual findings.

Experts said overall, the samples had 100 to 1,000 times more bacteria than typically seen on meat or fish offered for sale.

Last week, the I-Team went behind the scenes at the Brentwood grocery store and spoke to a concerned butcher who had marked packages of outdated meat to track in case it ended up on store shelves again.

The meat was re-tagged and sold against store policy.

The I-Team’s source said he also had longstanding concerns, shared with his managers, about what goes into the glass cases without any sort of date tag.

Harris Teeter would not answer the I-Team’s questions about its record keeping on meat and fish, throwing away dated boxes, the kinds of bacteria found on the products we purchased, or how we managed to buy a piece of meat that had apparently sat in storage two months past the sell-by date.
WSMV Channel 4

Pittsburgh says no to restaurant grading system

Posted on May 6, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Toronto, New York and Los Angeles have all figured out how to do restaurant inspection grading and make it available on the door.

Pittsburgh? Not so much.

The restaurant grading system plan went down in Allegheny County Council by a vote of 12-1. And that’s what local restaurant owners were hoping.

“I’m pretty happy. It’s a big weight off a lot of people’s shoulders, I’m sure,” said Robert Storms, the owner of Storms Restaurant.

The plan was approved by the Allegheny County Health Department last September.

The Allegheny County Board of Health thought grades would give diners more food safety informationthan the current pass-fail system.

But restaurants fought the plan every step of the way right up to Tuesday night’s vote.

“This discussion is not about increasing the knowledge and training of food service workers, rather it is about catching, punishing and embarrassing,” said Kevin Joyce, of The Carlton.

Some feared a couple of minor infractions could result in a “B” grade, giving diners the wrong impression.

“I firmly believe that if one of my restaurants receives a grade lower than an ‘A,’ that it will not simply affect that particular restaurant, but it will affect our entire brand,” said Mike Mitcham, of Primanti Bros.

The health board’s motive was to incentivize restaurants to strictly follow the rules.

Ryan Bidney, of Irwin, who was visiting Station Square Tuesday, backs that.

“The restaurant, knowing that that letter grade is gonna be presented, I believe that they’ll feel stronger about, you know, wanting to keep up with their standards and keep their standards higher,” said Bidney.

Pittsburgh, there is research on this stuff.

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

The 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.

Cameras everywhere (and sometimes TMI): Georgia Waffle House employee pleasures himself in restaurant

Posted on May 6, 2015 by Douglas Powell

One man is no longer an employee at a popular chain restaurant in Macon for a sexual act caught on video.

The man is out of a job at Waffle House — fired for what can only be described as lewd behavior.

41NBC received video from a concerned citizen where an employee was shown in his Waffle House uniform, pleasuring himself inside the restaurant’s dining area while another employee watched.

41NBC believes the video is too graphic to show. Waffle House took immediate action and they have chosen not to identify the man. We received a statement from Waffle House’s corporate office about the issue. A spokesperson says in part that the issue is disgusting…

“In addition, we are cooperating with local authorities to explore if charges will be brought against this individual.”

Health officials say the act, while unusual, would be treated no differently than blood or other bodily fluid exposure in the restaurant.

“Basically any general protocol that would follow clean up for wash, rinse, and sanitize would work. You’d want to increase the strength of the sanitizer to the level that it would be a disinfectant,” Donna Cadwell with the Macon-Bibb County Health Department said.

Parents in Tennessee want to know how six-year-old meat could be served at school

Posted on May 3, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Dozens of parents and students packed into the Hawkins County Board of Education, expecting answers about how their children could be served six-year-old meat in the cafeteria.

They were stunned to learn the school’s current system doesn’t keep track of dates such as when food shipments arrived or when it was time to throw unused food away.

School board members came to realize there’s been almost no such plan up to this point.

“People got it, it was normal and it was a just no. it was not normal once you tasted it obviously,” said Olivia Ewing, Cherokee High School senior.

On Thursday, 10News reported that some schools in the system had served six-year-old pork last week. The meat had been frozen up until preparation.

Board of Education Chairman Chris Christian is working to find out when the meat arrived at the schools.

How to win friends and influence people? NZ burger chef loses it after foodborne illness accusation

Posted on May 1, 2015 by Douglas Powell

The social media storm began when a woman sent a private Facebook message to Ekim Burgers, saying that she loved the cafe’s food but her son had spent the night vomiting after eating there.

“Firstly, this is not a complaint,” the woman began. “[The burger] is the only thing he ate differently from us that day so we assume it was the burger. Just wanted you to be aware. We thought the burgers were fantastic and know it was probably a one-off.”

And it probably wasn’t the burger (that would take 2-4 days, unless it was norovirus).

But the response from the chef is an instructive lesson in what not to do when chatting with customers.

On Wednesday, owner Mike Duffy posted a screengrab of the private message from the Wellington woman, saying “he wanted to get in first.”

When people complained he was breaching her privacy, he posted on Thursday the rant against his customers.

“Almost 20 years in this f—ing industry and never had a person who ate what I cook get sick from it,” he wrote on Ekim Burger’s Facebook page.

No evidence to prove that.

“Plenty of pissed up office jocks pulling the ‘i got food poisoning’ call after going home way to [sic] drunk from a staff Christmas party with someone who they shouldn’t have.

“Loads of middle class no idea house wives completely out of their league complaining that their wine glass should have more in it.

“Dozens of to [sic] drunk to drive but gonna anyway cos they can lawyer’s with no regard for the position they put you in as the license holder by driving home.

“100000s of eggs on Sunday mornings when no one, least of all the other staff wants to hear some little shit kid banging his or her fork on the wooden table only to be released from its chair to f— up the morning of other diners. So it’s dimwitted parents can talk about what shit the service is even though they’d never tip no matter how good it was.”

Unapologetic, Duffy said the rant was inspired by what he calls a creeping culture of rudeness and entitlement among hospitality patrons, who he said have a responsibility to behave well in restaurants, cafes and bars.

“It’s common courtesy and it’s not common anymore,” he explained.

Shock over Checkers chicken blunder in South Africa

Posted on April 29, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Cell phones and their cameras are everywhere.

Be accountable.

A Checkers store in Cape Town, South Africa, has left a bitter taste in the mouth of a consumer after he saw raw marinated chicken on the floor in the deli.

This stomach-turning experience took place at the Checkers outlet in Bayside Mall in Table View.

The consumer, who wants to remain anonymous, was so appalled by what he saw that he snapped an image to capture the shocking discovery.

He says nothing indicated to him that an accident may have occurred because no sign was put up and there was no rush to pick up the chicken from the floor.

“I stood in the queue waiting to be assisted … there were three customers in front of me and two behind me. For this whole time the chicken was just laying on the floor.

“Then a woman came from the back and packed the chicken in a white container. It seemed very normal. She was so relaxed.”

He said what looked like the manager watched on as the employee packed over the chicken to the container without even assuring customers that there is no need to worry.

Health24 checked in with the Shoprite Checkers group and handed over the image.

Sarita van Wyk, spokesperson for the retailer, said Checkers views the perception created by the photograph in a serious light.

“The supermarket group regards food safety and hygiene in its stores of utmost importance and therefore our stores adhere to stringently monitored food safety hygiene and product handling requirements to ensure that food products prepared on the premises remain fresh and safe to eat at all times.”

Fancy food ain’t safe food, LA edition

Posted on April 29, 2015 by Douglas Powell

When the health inspector showed up at Wolfgang’s Steakhouse in Beverly Hills last fall, he found a cockroach in the hall and poor sanitation in the kitchen. He found enough critical violations, he threatened to suspend their permit and said he’d be back in two weeks to make sure they had cleaned up.

But seven months later, the inspector still has never been back to Wolfgang’s.

The county’s 10 million residents depend on the health department to inspect restaurants often, to make sure they’re clean and safe. But an NBC4 I-Team investigation has found LA County is failing to inspect many restaurants frequently, and food poisoning and filth at some eateries may be the result.

“We could be doing a better job in many areas,” says Angelo Bellomo, the head of the county’s restaurant inspection program, and director of LA County Environmental Health.

Restaurants like Nobu in Malibu, which serves sushi to celebrities like Halle Berry and Mel Gibson, are required to be inspected three times a year, according to LA County Health Department policy.

“I’d like to see three inspections a year in high-risk restaurants,” said LA County’s Bellomo.

Most restaurants are considered “high risk” because they handle raw meat, poultry, and fish.

But when I-Team examined the last two years of all restaurant inspections, it found thousands of high-risk restaurants aren’t getting anywhere near the required three inspections a year.

When 13 people who ate at Nobu contracted potentially deadly Norovirus in November 2014, the restaurant hadn’t had an inspection in over a year — October 2013. Nobu declined to comment to NBC4.

“You’re playing Russian roulette when you go out to dinner,” said Dr. Pete Snyder, a nationally known food safety expert who has trained health inspectors. “If you’re only inspecting once or twice a year, then the restaurants don’t fear you anymore.”

Diners are also finding that an “A” grade in the window doesn’t mean a restaurant has been inspected lately, or that it’s necessarily safe. Wolfgang’s, Coast Cafe at Shutter’s, Nobu, and Lunasia all had “A”s when people got sick there or when inspectors found critical violations.

“Wolfgang’s Steakhouse in Beverly Hills maintains the highest standards,” general manager Michael Connly told the I-Team in a statement.

“Shutter’s on the Beach operates under stringent health and safety standards in food preparation and cleanliness in the industry,” said Shutter’s GM Gregory Day, in an emailed statement to NBC4.

As for their cooks who we caught on camera eating on the job, a major violation, he added “any misconduct that may have taken place will be properly addressed.”

After getting sick at Lunasia, Holstein’s family said they have little faith in LA County’s inspection system or its letter grades.

UK business owner fined £14,000 for filthy food factory

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Douglas Powell

An illegal food factory owner in Erith was fined £14,000 after admitting that his “ready to eat” food produced on site was not produced hygienically.

‘SOY’ business owner Tony Chuoc Ha Lam pleaded guilty to 14 offences under food safety legislation at Bexley Magistrates’ Court last Monday (April 14).

Food safety officers from Bexley Council found the Hailey Road premises in a “filthy” condition with extensive mold growing, filthy equipment, leaking drains, no hand washing facilities, inadequate and dirty protective clothing, and an active rodent infestation when they first visited them.

The business was not registered with the council, despite this being a legal requirement, and had no systems in place to ensure foods produced on site were safe to eat.

Bexley Council claim the hygiene conditions at the food factory were so poor they presented an imminent risk to health.

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