Tag Archives: Food Service

Doctors work while sick: study

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People shouldn’t work preparing or serving food when they are sick because they may spread the illness. That’s become a food safety mantra, and yet outbreaks are repeatedly traced back to sick food workers – like the 300 who got sick with norovirus at the Haaaaarvard faculty club earlier this year after 14 food service employees were discovered to be working while sick. Or the 529 who got sick with norovirus at Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck restaurant last year, where again, the presence of sick food workers was cited as a contributing factor to the outbreak.

There’s a difference between saying what should be done – sick workers stay at home – and actually doing it – food service workers may get fired, whether they work with divas or in dives.

Medical doctors are the same.

The Associated Press reports more than half of doctors in training said in a survey that they’d shown up sick to work, and almost one-third said they’d done it more than once.

Dr. Anupam Jena, a medical resident at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, developed food poisoning symptoms halfway through an overnight shift last year, but said he didn’t think he was contagious or that his illness hampered his ability to take care of patients.

Jena, a study co-author, said getting someone else to take over his shift on short notice "was not worth the cost of working while a bit sick." He was not among the survey participants.

The researchers analyzed an anonymous survey of 537 medical residents at 12 hospitals around the country conducted last year by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. The response rate was high; the hospitals were not identified.

The results appear in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.

Nearly 58 percent of the respondents said they’d worked at least once while sick and 31 percent said they’d worked more than once while sick in the previous year.

Is food service in sporting stadiums, or anywhere, really doing everything to reduce risk of foodborne illness?

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In the aftermath of the ESPN reports on less-than-desirable conditions at stadium and arena eateries across North American, spokesthingy John Althardt of Lucas Oil Stadium – that’s where Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts play – told WIBC,

"Everything is being done to ensure that the events and the food service at Lucas Oil Stadium are all what we expect them to be, and we’ll continue to do so."

Are they really doing everything? Are they using new food messages and new media to really establish a culture of food safety amongst all employees? Are they posting food safety infosheets in common employee areas? Are they creating a system of rewards for good food safety behavior, telling sick employees to stay home from work, and that food accidentally mishandled is thrown out?

Walk the talk, Althardt.
 

Why everyone should be vaccinated for hepatitis A; food worker at 2 Colorado restaurants prompts call for shots

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Patrons of two Grand Lake, Colorado, restaurants are being urged to get either immune globulin (IG) or hepatitis A shots following the discovery that a worker employed at both eateries has a case of hepatitis A.

The two restaurants were identified by the Denver Post as Sagebrush BBQ & Grill and Max & T’s Bar and Grill by the Grand County Public Health department.

Officials emphasized that both restaurants have had very good inspection records and are cooperating in the investigation.

The health department said there are no other confirmed cases of hepatitis A at this time.

Don’t cook when you’re crook

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Does the headline mean, if you’re a convict, don’t cook? Lots of convicts cook. So I checked the dictionary where I found an Australian/New Zealand definition for crook: a situation that is bad, unpleasant, or unsatisfactory, or (of a person or a part of the body) unwell or injured : a crook knee.

It means if you’re sick, don’t work.

With the chill of winter well and truly upon us, the risk of viral gastro contamination heats up, (New South Wales, that’s in Australia, includes Sydney, and it’s what they would call winter right now) Primary Industries Minister Steve Whan warned today as he urged chefs and cooks to take care in the kitchen during the peak viral gastro season.

"This warning applies particularly to those food industry professionals who come into contact with the preparation and service of food for hundreds, if not thousands of people," Minister Whan said.

"If you’re crook don’t cook is a good basic rule to apply in the workplace."

"Under the Food Standards Code it is illegal for food handlers to handle food when they have gastric illness. It is also illegal for food businesses to knowingly have staff working if they have gastric illness.

"The NSW Food Authority is aware of cases where staff have been asked to work when they were sick, or have not told their supervisor they were sick, putting many people at risk.”
 

Albert Amgar: Mandatory training in food service?***

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Our French colleague Albert writes recently on his blog,

I’m no expert on the commercial and institutional restaurant business, just a simple user.

I’m also not a fan of guides to good practices of which, in my opinion, we shouldn’t expect so much. The guide shouldn’t be a white cane for the blind when it comes to matters of hygiene and food safety. But I also know that some people have been waiting, according to a message published on la liste Hygiène on July 3, 2010, “…for at least 8 years, [for] the probable publication date of the Guide to Good Hygiene Practices for the food services industry.”

As such, le blog HysaConseil from Quebec tells us that, “Mandatory training in hygiene and safety, who does it concern?”

On November 21, 2008, a modification to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of Québec’s (MAPAQ) food regulation requires all business owners who are or are not licensed with MAPAQ to undergo training in hygiene and safety. Whenever food handling is done in his/her business, the owner must comply with regulations (convenience stores, pharmacies, bars, bed & breakfasts, butcheries, supermarkets, selling meat on the farm, etc…).

You can refer to the available guide to the application of regulations on MAPAQ’s website for more information on this regulation. All information is found at this site.
At a time when France has launched its Food Operation Holidays (see “The return of Operation Thunder”), here’s a measure that would be welcome for us! Is this obligation applicable for us? I don’t believe so according to certain reports we see (see “Hygiene in the food service industry”).

In the words of one AFSCA administrator (Belgium), “I currently use the carrot with the subcommittee on language simplification (referred to as cellule de vulgarisation). Now there is a stick behind the door: not only the administrative fines or the temporary closures, but we could also put the results of our inspections on the Internet, clearly online for the consumers.”

Mandatory training, scores or grades on the doors and online inspection results are the answers that Albert suggests to advance food safety in restaurant businesses.

Nuevo Folleto Informativo: Empleados de una fiambrería propagan salmonelosis

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Traducido por Gonzalo Erdozain

Resumen del folleto informativo mas reciente:

– Un empleado estuvo en contacto directo con pollitos infectados.

– Preparadores de alimentos pueden transmitir Salmonela de su materia fecal sin saberlo y sin tener síntoma alguno.

– Lavarse las manos después de haber tocado aves, pollitos o reptiles, y luego de haber estado en contacto con materia fecal animal.

Los folletos informativos son creados semanalmente y puestos en restaurantes, tiendas y granjas, y son usados para entrenar y educar a través del mundo. Si usted quiere proponer un tema o mandar fotos para los folletos, contacte a Ben Chapman a benjamin_chapman@ncsu.edu.
Puede seguir las historias de los folletos informativos y barfblog en twitter
@benjaminchapman y @barfblog.

deadly food poisoning; procedures weren’t followed, management clueless

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Three patients died, 42 other patients and 12 staff members got sick from Clostridium perfringens in improperly stored chicken salad, so the administrator and associate administrator at Central Louisiana State Hospital have, as they politely say in the South (and smile while the knife goes in), left the facility.

The appropriately named Town Talk reports today the investigations also revealed what the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals termed unacceptable process and management issues.

The investigations, ordered by DHH Secretary Alan Levine, found serious deficiencies in dietary services and concerns with the overall operation of the hospital.

Levine said,

“The day of these tragic deaths, I went to Pineville with Deputy Secretary Tony Keck to personally assess what had happened. We ordered a comprehensive investigation into the patient deaths, and asked other agencies to conduct expert reviews into various issues.

“The staff at CLSH was cooperative, and I’m grateful for that. But I have seen enough evidence of unacceptable performance that I am convinced major changes are necessary. Basic policies were not followed. Staff was not properly educated. The findings across the board raise real concerns related to overall management that go beyond the food service area.”

Norovirus caused the barf at Wisconsin luncheon; linked to sick workers working

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Haaarrvard, are you listening? Letting sick workers serve food is a recipe for barf.

Waukesha County health officials confirmed Monday that norovirus is behind the outbreak of gastrointestinal illness reported by many of the 500 people attending a fund-raising luncheon last week at the Country Springs Hotel.

Julianne Klimetz, a county spokeswoman, said initial lab results confirmed the cause. In addition, investigators have confirmed that two people handling the food were ill at the time.

Klimetz said the Country Springs kitchen has been cleaned and kitchen staff have been informed about proper hand washing.

Everyone’s a comedian. Did anyone tell the staff not to work if they are barfing? Or would staff get fired for not showing up, even though the no-work-when-barfing thing is written in a manual somewhere.

Harvard club to reopen after sickening 300; norovirus in staffers still suspected

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When did the Harvard Crimson turn into the Harvard Lampoon (which begat National Lampoon in 1970)? In all seriousness, this is some funny stuff.

The venerable Harvard newspaper, the Crimson, reports that “after closing for more than a month due to a norovirus outbreak that sickened over 300 people, the Harvard Faculty Club will reopen for private events on Monday.

“The Club, which had been undergoing inspections for food safety, reopened for overnight guests on May 6. The restaurant portion of the Club will officially reopen in early June.”

Sure all the food has been thrown out and every surface scrubbed, but nothing was said about allegations that first aired Saturday that up to 14 staffers worked while sick – a food service no-no (at least on paper).

Samuel D. Stuntz ’10—who plans to hold his wedding reception at the Faculty Club at the end of May—said that he and his fiancee, Elizabeth A. Cook ’10, are not concerned about the virus outbreak, adding,

“The fact that they were closed for so long shows that they were obviously really devoted to not doing anything unless it was absolutely safe. It’s a really popular place so that obviously means we assumed they were working really hard to get it fixed. I’m not worried about it at all,"

Rooms at the Club during Commencement week start at $429 per night for a three-night minimum.

Is the norovirus extra?

OMG! US govt-types still Clueless, blaming consumers for foodborne illness

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Alicia Silverstone got famous in the 1995 movie, Clueless. It wasn’t particularly good or witty, and even dopey me got the whole Jane Austen thing, but it did have one memorable line, when Alicia’s Cher went into the bathroom and saw another student with bad 1980s Motley Crue big hair, and proclaim, ‘OMG, is it 1985?’ or something like that.

Reading the pronouncements of various U.S. food safety government-types, I want to shriek, ‘OMG, is it 1994?’ Are you still blaming consumers for getting sick?

Michael Taylor, who’s now food safety guru at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, declared in 1994 when he worked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the government will no longer blame consumers when they get sick from nasty bacteria like E. coli O157:H7 in food. Apparently that memo hasn’t made it around Obama-change appointees.

Dr. David Goldman, assistant administrator of the Office of Public Health Science, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, said last week,

"Consumers can always protect themselves if they follow our four safe-handling guidelines: clean, separate, cook and chill. This provides some extra measure of safety."

Not for contaminated produce, pet food, pizza or pot pies.

Earlier, Jerold Mande, USDA’s deputy undersecretary for food safety told the food safety education-palooza,

“I want to be clear. At FSIS we are focused every day on preventing contaminated food from ever leaving the establishments we regulate, and we have more work to do to make our food safe. But we must also recognize that most contamination occurs after food products leave federally regulated establishments. Even if FSIS and FDA succeed in reducing illnesses from our establishments to zero, there will still be millions of foodborne illnesses and hundreds of deaths each year unless we succeed in changing the behavior of food preparers.”

Except Mande’s own USDA reported today that incoming raw poultry is the primary source of Listeria monocytogenes contamination in commercial chicken cooking plants, based on a 21-month study conducted by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and their collaborators at the University of Georgia.

Clueless.