Raw is risky: In Hawaii poke is the thing

Posted on June 29, 2016 by Douglas Powell

A true fusion, Hawaiian cuisine is influenced by the food cultures that immigrant workers brought from China, Korea, Japan, the Philippines and Portugal. Combined with existing indigenous ingredients, as well as European and American foods, a style unique to Hawaii was born. In fact, it was so distinct that in 1992, a group of Hawaiian chefs worked together to establish the “Hawaii Regional Cuisine” culinary movement, putting a name to their style of cooking that made use of locally grown ingredients and focused on the blending of diverse culinary influences present on the islands.

Here on the mainland, Hawaii’s biggest culinary success has undoubtedly been poke (pronounced PO-kay) — the simple and sneakily addictive raw fish salad often served as an appetizer in Hawaiian cuisine. It certainly isn’t a new creation, originating from fishermen who would snack on trimmings of the fish they caught that day, but poke seems to be enjoying a serious moment across the country. The dish has become wildly popular in recent months, with versions of it popping up all over menus in New York, Los Angeles and everywhere in between. And now, an abundance of poke dishes have surfaced in North Jersey.

The word poke means “cut” or “section” in Hawaiian, and that’s exactly what the dish is: Pieces of raw fish cut into cubes, tossed with a dressing of some kind — such as the classic combination of soy sauce and sesame oil, and garnished with any number of toppings. Poke is most often made using raw yellowfin (ahi) tuna, but other adaptations may feature salmon, whitefish or even octopus. Each element of the dish works to elevate the others: The sweetness of the fresh raw fish combined with the saltiness of the sauce and a touch of oil works to build an enticing bowl rich in both flavor and protein.

25 percent of Hawaii restaurants received yellow, red cards

Posted on April 28, 2016 by Douglas Powell

Two weeks after the state made its food inspections public, we’re digging deeper into the information posted online. The data is public, but the number of inspections and other figures are not simply listed.

All restaurants in Hawaii, the type of safety inspection it received, even the ingredients used in a meal that may have made a customer sick are included in the state’s new website.

“They want an explanation of why we saw certain things and why we did or did not do an action based on that,” said Peter Oshiro with the State Department of Health.

KHON2 spent days digging deeper, and found out DOH inspectors have checked out more than 4,800 locations across the state. They did 10,270 inspections, and have handed out more than 1,800 yellow or red placards.

The state is still in the process of entering more data, and told us Tuesday that 25 percent of food establishments received a yellow (conditional) card or red (closed) card.

“Is that a high number?” KHON2 asked.

“That’s a relative thing. I think what this shows is that 75 percent of establishments right now are fully compliant with rules and regulations,” Oshiro said. “Twenty-five percent yellow cards, we would like to see that down to 15 percent or below.”

To help, the state offers free food safety classes. It’s becoming increasingly popular since the introduction of the health department’s color-coded placard system.

More oyster woes: Frozen raw oysters recalled due to norovirus

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Ben Chapman

According to MauiNow, 11 cases of norovirus have been linked to raw oyster consumption in Maui since September. And now some frozen raw oysters from Korea are being recalled.

The Hawaiʻi State Department of Health has issued a recall notice for frozen, raw oysters imported from Korea and sold in bulk to distributors and food establishments in Hawaiʻi.

The individually quick frozen raw oysters on the half shell are packaged under the Dai One Food Company label.

Health officials say the shellfish harvest dates are Feb. 10, 11, 12, and 13, 2015 and are listed on the required shellfish identification tags for all bulk shellfish cases.

The department has already conducted product trace-backs and embargoed all of the suspect product on Nov. 24 at various local shellfish distributors and restaurants,” said Peter Oshiro, “Although this product is not sold directly to the public, a recall has been issued as an additional safeguard to further notify anyone who may possess the product that it is unsafe and should be destroyed.”

Health officials exploring mandatory training for Hawaiian food businesses

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Ben Chapman

Our weekends are dominated by hockey. Jack, the 7-year-old, practices early Saturday morning with games are Sundays. Sam, the 5-year-old, starts a learn to play hockey class this weekend.

Last year I went through 8 hours of in-class instruction and 10 hours of online modules to qualify as a volunteer assistant coach. The worse thing I can do is accidentally hit a kid in the helmet with a puck or fall on one (both of those things have happened this year) but the training is required – and it made me a better coach.

It’s not like I’m handling food that people eat, where if I mess up people could get sick and die.

According to KHON2, Hawaiian health department folks are looking at mandatory food safety education for all food establishments in response to a bunch of poor inspections (maybe this is manager training, maybe for all food employees; I’m not sure).

The state health department says it may soon be asking food establishments to undergo mandatory food safety education in wake of a string of “red-carded” Oahu businesses in October.

Of the over 10,000 restaurant inspections done statewide since July 2014, the DOH says 2,000 restaurants had two or more critical violations. So what has the state learned since the placard system for food establishments was put in place? “One thing in our rules we’re probably going to change later on in the year is have a mandatory food safety education for all restaurants and food establishments in Hawaii,” said Peter Oshiro with the Department of Health.

Since fixing their violations, the North Shore bakery says it’s busier than usual.

“That’s great for the bakery,” Oshiro said. “For us, all we’re concerned with is that they correct violations that impact public health.”

Inspectors also discovered employees were not following proper hygiene or hand-washing rules, something Oshiro says is considered, “one of the most common violations in food establishments.”
“It looks like they may need some form of food safety education so hopefully they might agree to something like that,” Oshiro said.

Hawaiian bakery sold food after being ordered to close for food safety violations

Posted on October 18, 2015 by Douglas Powell

A popular Waialua bakery has been fined $22,000 for allegedly selling food after it was ordered to close down by the Health Department and for failing to fix multiple food safety violations.

The state closed down the Paalaa Kai Bakery on Oct. 6, after several inspections found the establishment had failed to fix refrigeration problems.

The Health Department issued a red “closed” placard to the bakery, the first since the state launched a new eatery inspection program last year.

The bakery, located at 66-945 Kaukonahua Rd., might request a hearing to contest the fine. No one answered the phone at the bakery Tuesday.

How Hawaii’s restaurants have fared after one year of the placard rating system

Posted on August 29, 2015 by Douglas Powell

It’s been about a year since the Hawaii Department of Health started issuing placards to restaurants as part of its food safety program.

The color coded system gives everyone a clear look at just how safe a restaurant is.

A green card means it passed inspection. A yellow card means two or more major violations and a follow-up inspection is needed. And red means the place is shut down because of health risks.

One of the first restaurants to get a green placard was Scratch Kitchen & Bake Shop in Chinatown.

“I feel the placard system makes restaurants feel accountable for their sanitation, their health issues, their kitchen, how they manage their food,” said Brian Chan, Scratch Kitchen & Bake Shop owner.

In the first year of the program, July 2014 – July 2015, health inspectors handed out 8,546 placards, amounting to about 84% of all food establishments in the state.

Of those placards given out, 6,744 received green ones, 1,802 received yellow, and no one got a red placard.

KHON2 asked health officials what the response has been from restaurants that received yellow placards.

“They understand what we’re doing. Before we started to roll out this program, we made a point to visit every single one of our 10,000 establishments to explain at length exactly what our inspectors would be looking for. So I think it’s not really much of a shock to them. They understand the idea to get the green placard is rapid corrections of the violations,” replied Department of Health Sanitation Branch manager Peter Oshiro.

E. coli in beach sand: It happens, but is it a risk?

Posted on July 22, 2015 by Douglas Powell

After surveying popular beaches in Hawaii, researchers from the University of Hawaii found that bacteria love the beach just as much as humans do. Turns out, the sand contained high levels of nasty bugs like E. coli.

The researchers discovered that warm, moist sand provides the ideal breeding ground for bacteria brought in by waste water run-off, sewage, or garbage dumped on the beach. “Beach sand needs to be considered carefully in assessing its impact on public health,” cautioned lead author Tao Yan, Ph.D. The side effect from your perfect afternoon in contaminated sand? Things like diarrhea, vomiting, rashes, and infections, the study authors warn.

But don’t freak out and cancel that trip to Cabo just yet, says Russ Kino, M.D., the medical director of the Emergency Department at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA. “There’s nothing to worry about from walking or playing on the beach,” he says. “If you have an open wound on your legs or feet then there is a risk of infection, but just walking around the beach? Forget it. You’re safe.”

He doesn’t dispute that there are poop germs (and worse) on beaches, but he says that our built-in safety system—our skin—does a great job of keeping germs out. Even if you’re doing something a little more dirty, like letting your friends bury you in the sand, enjoying a picnic on the beach, or having a romantic (ahem) moment, you’re more likely to get sick from the activity than you are from the sand, according to Kino.

“Honestly, the biggest risk from the beach is a sunburn,” he says, adding that his number one tip for beach safety is to wear a hat and shirt with UPF protection and a good sunscreen, as melanoma is still the number one cancer killer of women under 35 years of age.

Hawaii hires new vendor to build online restaurant database after spending $170k on failed system

Posted on July 10, 2015 by Douglas Powell

One year after requiring restaurants to display safety inspection placards for their patrons, and after spending nearly $170,000, the Hawaii State Department of Health is going back to the drawing board to launch a restaurant database the public can access online.

After three years of technical problems with a former technology contractor, the state is now working to get its data to a new vendor that will build a website that will let people search for restaurants and see their health inspection ratings.

“We were having so many problems with the previous vendor that we never opened it up,” the state Department of Health’s environmental health program manager, Peter Oshiro, told PBN.

A new multi-year agreement between Charlotte, North Carolina-based Digital Health Department Inc. and the state Department of Health to maintain, store and report electronic restaurant inspection data should be finalized within the next few days, he said.

Under the proposed agreement , the state Department of Health would pay $158,000 to create, install, set up and maintain the department’s electronic restaurant inspection and public reporting process. The department would then pay $60,000 a year for Digital Health Department to maintain the system.

“It’s going to be an open portal where the public can look up their favorite restaurant, and actually open up that restaurant’s file, where it’ll show their restaurant placard status, whether it’s green, yellow or red,” Oshiro told PBN.

Hawaii department of health fines $8,000 for food safety violations

Posted on January 24, 2015 by Douglas Powell

The state Department of Health has cited a Waimalu restaurant for intentionally removing the posted yellow “Conditional Pass” placard from its facility, and for food safety violations. 3W Restaurant Group LLC., which does business as Ichiben, was slapped with an $8,000 fine.

The restaurant, which is located on Kaahumanu Street in Waimalu, may request a hearing to contest the notice. Peter Oshiro, the Department of Health’s Environmental Health program manager, says this is only the second incident involving intentional removal of a placard, with more than 2-thousand inspections completed.

Hawaii restaurant cited for removing yellow placard

Posted on January 24, 2015 by Douglas Powell

The Hawaii State Department of Health has issued a Notice of Violation and Order against 3 W Restaurant Group LLC d.b.a. Ichiben for $8,000 for intentionally removing the posted yellow “CONDITIONAL PASS” placard from its facility and for food safety violations cited during the health inspection resulting in the issuance of the yellow placard.

“With more than 2,000 inspections completed since the start of the new placarding system, we’ve seen excellent compliance with the food industry; this is only the second incident involving intentional removal of a placard,” said Peter Oshiro, Environmental Health program manager. “The program is a huge success and after completing the most challenging inspections involving eating places in the higher-risk category, we are well on track to complete the inspections for all licensed food establishments this year.”

A food establishment may face fines of $2,000 per day for removing an inspection placard posted by DOH and $1,000 per day for each critical violation that led to the facility receiving a yellow placard. Placard removal is a serious violation because this act intentionally places profit above health and safety and compromises the public’s trust and their right to know when violations occur during an inspection.

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