Hockey and food safety? Sure they’re the same, keep elbows up when you go in the corners

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Douglas Powell

This isn’t about food safety. It’s about coaching, mentoring, whatever words you like that are often thrown around in the food safety world but often not practiced (follow the money).

No money involved here, just me and fellow coach Kyle spending four Sundays trying to teach a bunch of surfer kids in 90 F heat how to play hockey.

And it was a family affair. Sorenne and Amy both helped out with the various tasks to get people on the ice, as did Kyle’s kids.

The regular season begins next weekend, and I’m anxious to get back on the ice as a goalie (if my body can handle it) and coaching.

But this was fun. Thanks to all who volunteered their time. And especially my family who tolerate my Canadian indulgences in Australia.

A prisoner at Brisbane Women’s Correctional Centre last month claimed to have purposely bled and urinated in the communal food

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Brisbane just gets weirder.

The Courier-Mail has obtained information detailing the female prisoner’s claims at Brisbane Women’s Correctional Centre last month, which prompted an investigation by prison and health officials.

Staff within the centre have raised concerns over bouts of anger and erratic behaviour they believe is linked to the medication and have asked for restrictions for prisoners working in certain areas of the jail.

But corrective services bosses have said staff are “highly trained to safely and securely manage prisoner behaviour”.

Jail bosses told staff the prisoner had worked in the residential food area of the kitchen for the past six months and was not involved in cooking.

“She is currently under treatment with Q-Health and this treatment at times has a side effect of increasing aggressive behaviours,” an internal memo said.

The woman was later sent to health facilities for mental health assessment, with bosses later saying it was unlikely the incident took place.

“All medications come with some side effects for the individual patient,” she said.

So should restaurant inspection disclosure: Health Star Ratings should be compulsory, Australian health groups say

Posted on January 21, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Brisbane and other Australian cities have this system of restaurant inspection disclosure where a vendor get stars, but the posting is voluntary.

That isn’t what they do in Toronto, Los Angeles, New York and hundreds of other cities.

I’ve asked why the system is voluntary, and the answer usually involves a lot of muttering, something about not pissing off the industry, and co-operation.

Public health is there to protect public health. That’s it.

So while it’s nice that four leading Australian health groups have called on the new Federal Health Minister Sussan Ley and the Australian government to make the new Health Star Ratings system compulsory for packaged food products, it would be nicer if they included mandatory restaurant inspection disclosure.

Dozens sickened: Sushi source of another Salmonella outbreak in Brisbane

Posted on January 20, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Fresh off the Salmonella-in-deep-fried-ice-cream outbreak which sickened at least 130 people in Brisbane, health types fear there could be more victims of food poisoning after dozens of people became sick from eating sushi sold in Asian grocery stores in Brisbane.

http://bcove.me/hvprnsiy

Looks like I picked the right week to leave Brisbane as hail strikes

Posted on November 27, 2014 by Douglas Powell

This is what the apartment building across from us looks like.

This is what our next-door neighbor’s place looks like.

This was my response:

Raw egg mayonnaise more of a G20 threat than terrorism

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Douglas Powell

As Brisbane locks down for the G20 meetings this weekend, Queensland’s Chief Health Officer, Jeanette Young, stated this week that she was more concerned about the threat of raw egg mayonnaise than terrorism, with major hospitals primed to take action in the case of a mass food poisoning event.

“I’m actually a little bit more worried about food poisoning than I am about other incidents, particularly we’ve seen quite a few outbreaks in Queensland over the last few years, mainly due to raw eggs,” Dr Young said.

“We have a lot of problems with raw egg mayonnaise and we’ve seen quite a few incidents where hundreds of people have been impacted, so we certainly don’t want that to happen. I think that is a fairly realistic scenario, but very unlikely given the amount of work that’s been done. My personal view is we should all shy away from raw egg mayonnaise at all times,” she said.

Over 7000 dignitaries, foreign delegates and journalists are starting to arrive in Brisbane already in preparation for events leading up to the main G20 summit on Friday and Saturday this week.

Many of the more high-profile guests will be bringing their own healthcare teams with them with the doctors being accredited by Queensland Health to practice medicine here. In the case of a serious illness or injury, the dignitary will be treated in a Brisbane Hospital.

I can’t imagine any of them allowing their leaders to eat a raw-egg based dish.

A table of raw egg related outbreaks in Australia is available at https://barfblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/raw-egg-related-outbreaks-australia-3-3-14.xlsx

Brisbane’s food hall of shame

Posted on September 18, 2014 by Douglas Powell

Brisbane’s annual food hall of shame, released by City Hall on Wednesday, revealed the vast majority of the city’s worst food hygiene offenders had food preparation areas infested with rodents or pests last financial year.

Just more than $710,000 in fines were dished up to 34 recalcitrant cafe, restaurant and food outlet owners in 2013/14 – 28 of which had evidence of animal or pest infestation, according to Brisbane City Council’s lifestyle chairman Krista Adams.

But the restaurant that claimed the dubious title of the year’s most heavily fined, Pho Ha Long, a Vietnamese restaurant in Mount Gravatt East, was not among them.

The restaurant was slapped a $60,000 fine in November for two counts of handling and selling unsafe food.

It has since closed.

As has Kelvin Grove’s Little Lily Thai Restaurant, which was fined $32,500 in February on 29 offences, including animal and pest infestation, food storage, cleanliness and failure to comply with an improvement notice.

The inner city was not without its offenders either.

Rats were discovered in the kitchen of Japanese Bento in the Myer Centre food hall, which formed part of a raft of charges that earned it a $25,000 fine in November.

Also in the Myer Centre, the Beach House Bar and Grill copped a $30,000 fine on eight charges stemming from failed standards of food storage, cleanliness and maintenance.

Brisbane food court operator fined $15,000 after rat infestation

Posted on August 15, 2014 by Douglas Powell

In the Tampa of the south – Brisbane, they’re equidistant from the equator — Queen Street FantAsia owner Yuk Lin Wong, 56, pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Magistrates Court to five charges, including failing to take measures to eradicate pests after a council inspection revealed rat droppings throughout the eatery on September 19, 2012.

Magistrate Judith Daley fined Wong $15,000 for failing to ensure her business complied with the Food Act.

Outside court, Wong said she had taken the breaches “very seriously” and it was now safe to eat there.

“We are taking every single step, and we closed the store immediately … (It is) always safe,” she said.

Prosecutor April Freeman said Brisbane City Council inspectors went to the business in the Myer Centre food court following complaints raised about a rodent problem in the centre.

She said inspectors discovered prawns were stored in an uncovered and damaged container in the cold room, the handwash basin was obstructed and a damaged wall in the cooking area.

Ms Freeman said inspectors discovered there was no device for measuring the temperature of food such as pork, chicken and seafood at the premises.

But she said the most serious charge related to the discovery of rat droppings throughout the eatery, including on the floor, on top of a freezer and behind a drinks fridge.

Queensland Health says rating schemes a matter for local governments; top franchises and well-known restaurants among Brisbane eateries slapped with fines for dodgy hygiene and health practices

Posted on July 20, 2014 by Douglas Powell

Sometimes I wonder what Queensland Health does, other than publish error-filled food safety information.

No follow-up on the 50 people that got sick from shiga-toxin producing E. coli at the state fair last year, no follow-up on the 240 who got sick from Salmonella linked to raw-egg mayo last year, and just no follow up at all.

According to The Courier-Mail, cockroaches in the kitchen, rat droppings in the deep fryer and Salmonella are just a few of the nasties that Brisbane’s food safety inspectors are finding on the menu at some of the city’s most popular restaurants.

Top franchises and well-known restaurants were among the eateries slapped with a whopping total of $600,000 in fines for dodgy hygiene and health practices during the 2013-14 financial year.

The revelations follow the DM jazz cafe being fined $25,000 in the Brisbane Magistrates Court this week after a customer found a live cockroach in the chicken and mushroom risotto.

Food safety inspectors slapped more than 30 restaurants and cafes with fines as part of the city council’s EatSafe program in a bid to clean up the industry.

The Beach House was fined $30,000 in December after rat droppings were found in the deep fryer, as well as accumulated grease on the floor and wall surfaces in the kitchen.

The Gap Tavern, owned by the ALH Group, was fined $28,000 for cleanliness issues including having live cockroaches in November 2013.

ALH Group spokesman said the organisation took food safety very seriously and had already taken steps to address the issues raised by the council.

“We have a robust ongoing audit process,” he said.

Major cities and tourist destinations throughout the state are hiding details about restaurants prosecuted for repeated dodgy hygiene practices, which could include insects crawling through the kitchen and food contamination.

There is now pressure on them to follow Brisbane City’s Council’s lead by naming and shaming eateries that flunk inspections and introducing a star rating system for food safety.

Diners on the Gold Coast and in Cairns could be eating at restaurants repeatedly fined for breaching health standards but wouldn’t know because their councils refuse to reveal who they are.

Queensland Health Health Protection Unit boss Sophie Dwyer said food safety rating schemes were a matter for local governments.

Uh-huh.

It’s voluntary and sucks: Brisbane’s EatSafe program adopted by other Australian councils

Posted on July 18, 2014 by Douglas Powell

Brisbane City Council’s food hygiene rating system EatSafe has been adopted by other councils, a move that has been hailed as proof of the success of the often-maligned program.

It’s not proof of anything, other than bureaucratic self-congratulation.

The program, developed by the LNP administration in 2010, replaced an annual visit by council food safety inspectors to all Brisbane food vendors with one that awards them a star rating.

Restaurants awarded a three star rating still receive a yearly inspection, while those awarded a four star rating receive a visit from council officers every second year.

Those with a five star rating are inspected every third year.

According to lifestyle chairman Krista Adams, four councils – two in Queensland and two in Tasmania – have now adopted the system pioneered in Brisbane, which she said brings a greater degree of transparency to the city’s restaurants, cafes and takeaway food sellers.

Cr Adams said 91 per cent of the city’s more than 6000 food outlets had been deemed by EatSafe inspectors to be operating at a three star level or above.

However, her comments promoting the success of the program came in the same week it was revealed a South Bank restaurant awarded four stars had been prosecuted over a woman finding a cockroach in her risotto in April last year.

Council Opposition Leader Milton Dick described the reduction in annual visits as a “cop out. … It’s more PR than actually tackling food safety standards in Brisbane.

“In principle it is sounds good but in practice it doesn’t deliver what it says it will.”

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