Tag Archives: inspection

Foodborne outbreaks are not acts of god; the best providers take responsibility for their food

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Amy was asking me about something speculative and that I said trying to predict such things was a mug’s game.

The language professor asked, what’s that?

A foolish, profitless or hopeless undertaking.

Predicting U.S. allotments for federal agencies is an endless mug’s game that I choose to ignore. I have enough trouble dealing with what’s going on today. Others thrive on that stuff.

The Washington Post has a story today about a putative boost in funding for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration agreed to by Congress (but not the Senate or the President) that I will ignore but does have a couple of juicy quotes about food safety.

“I mean God forbid to have another recall like this. . . . It just froze the market,” said Mohammad Abu-Ghazaleh, chief executive of Fresh Del Monte Produce in a call with analysts this month. He was talking about the 2006 E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in spinach.

God doesn’t have a lot to do with it. He or she or they probably have other things to do than micromanage outbreaks of foodborne illness or help you make that crucial putt on 18.The vast majority of foodborne outbreaks are not acts of god, they are the result of individually minor food safety mistakes in a culture that relegates food safety to a paragraph in the annual report that, over time, synergistically accumulate eventually making people barf or die.

The story notes that major recalls linked to foodborne illnesses exact real and reputational costs by shaking consumer confidence, but fails to answer the question: would listeria-in-cantaloupe, salmonella-in-peanut crap, E. coli in leafy things have been prevented by a stronger FDA?

Doubtful.

I’m all for a regulatory presence that is consistent and evidence-based, farm-to-fork. But that ain’t going to do much for people who will be barfing after eating food today.

Scott Faber, a vice president at the Grocery Manufacturers Association, said, “At a time when some industries are trying to handcuff their regulators, the food industry is advocating for a stronger regulator with more powers and more resources. … We’re competing with manufacturers all over the world. Maintaining and burnishing FDA’s reputation helps us open doors in those markets.”

Sounds nice but the responsibility to produce safe food lies with the producer, processor, retailer, restaurant, whoever is dishing it up. An industry group wanting more government oversight is also saying, we give up, it’s your problem.

Those that care about safe food will stop wasting their time with government and get on with it; then brag about it; then capture more market at retail.

The rest is a mug’s game.

Dead mouse ‘doesn’t meet expectations of cleanliness;’ inspections of Kansas school food services yield few violations

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The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that during a Nov. 16 inspection of the Shawnee Heights High School food services area, a state inspector found the decomposing body of a baby mouse.

The dead mouse, nestled between a stack of refried beans and chemical cleaner in a warehouse connected to the kitchen, was one sign of the presence of mice.

The inspector also found dozens of feces pellets and some nesting materials in the warehouse, which stores canned and frozen foods shipped daily throughout the entire district.

The signs most likely were left over from the last time the warehouse reported a mouse issue — six months prior to the inspection, when six mice were exterminated.

“That doesn’t reach our level of expectation of cleanliness in the warehouse,” said Unified School District 450 superintendent Marty Stessman.

However, he said, the violations have been handled, and the facility is ready for its Dec. 16 follow-up inspection.

The findings at Shawnee Heights High School were rare for schools. Only three other instances of mice in Topeka-area schools have been reported since 2009, according to inspection reports from the Kansas Department of Agriculture’s Division of Food Safety and Lodging.

Critical violations were found in 80 of the 256 state inspections of Topeka’s public and private schools since 2009. And nine of those required a 30-day follow-up — usually because of the presence of pests. The rest of the problems are minor enough to be fixed on site, typically by the inspector.


A critical violation is something that is more likely to contribute to illness, food contamination or environmental health hazards, according to Amber Barham, food safety and loding district manager for northeast Kansas.

Topeka’s 56 public schools have been less likely to have critical violations and follow-up visits than the city’s nine private schools, which have had critical violations in half of their inspections since 2009.

Although these reports are public record — available on the KDA website — and typically are posted in the cafeteria, few people outside the cafeteria, including parents, school board members and superintendents, see the results.

Most school cafeteria inspections turn up few, if any, critical violations, making schools among the easier inspections for the state.

Almost 70 percent of school inspections in the past two years didn’t yield any critical violations. The remaining 80 inspections found a total of 130.

Sardi’s whining about cheese pots and health types mind-boggling; clean up that kitchen

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Sardi’s, serve all the communal cheese you like in your bars to fatten up New York City’s Theater District.

Just don’t leave it out longer than four hours.

The N.Y. Times reported last week that Sardi’s had stopped serving communal snacks because of the health department and interviewed outraged theater-goers, arm-chair epidemiologists, and V. Max Klimavicius, the president of Sardi’s, who said,

“It has to do with the health department. It’s gotten to the point that the way they’re applying the health code is so rigid, we can no longer have what we always had. … It’s just mind-boggling. Nobody’s happy.”

Amanda Kludt of Eater decided to check the accuracy of the Times story and found it lacking.

Representatives at the Dept. of Health would like the bar-going public to know that the cheese played no role in their inspection nor did they order the bar to make any changes to their snack program. In fact, they write that "Cheese, including communal servings, is allowed to be served at room temperature as long as it is not kept out beyond four hours, per the Health Code."

Let the record show these are the actual Sardi’s violations:

1. Spaghetti and cheese ravioli not held to temperature (at or below 41 degrees F)
2. Bare hand assembly of ready-to-eat food (salad).
3. Contaminated ice.
4. Dry food stored improperly (pasta not stored in proper container)
5. Improper storage of food tongs (touching floor when oven door opens)
7. Improper ice handling.

Sardi’s free cheese ends after visit from health inspector

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The New York Times reports (photo from Times, left), that the communal cheese pot — with a knife sticking out and some crackers – was a tradition at bars like the ones in Sardi’s in the theater district.

Now, after a health department inspection that complained about “food not protected from potential source of contamination,” the communal pot is gone.

Other bar-food staples like peanuts and pretzels in little bowls? Sardi’s has taken them off the bar, too.

“It has to do with the health department,” said V. Max Klimavicius, the president of Sardi’s. “It’s gotten to the point that the way they’re applying the health code is so rigid, we can no longer have what we always had. The way it is now with the health department, as they say, a good inspector has to find violations. They come with flashlights and look in every corner.”

“It’s just mind-boggling,” he said. “Nobody’s happy.”

Pat Wolgemuth of West Chester, Pa., said, “How long has it been going on, serving cheese, and nobody got sick?” she asked.

Susan Craig, a health department spokeswoman, said that leaving food on the bar for different parties was a violation. “You shouldn’t have nuts or pretzels or definitely not cheese out at the bar,” she said. “You can be served new appetizers, if you want to call them that, but that can’t be left out” for the next person who comes in.

She denied Mr. Klimavicius’s assertion that inspectors are under pressure to find infractions. “Inspectors are trained to look for things that could put the public health at risk,” she said.

When barfing at a store, flush remnants don’t leave on display

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 A container of vomit was found on a shelf at an East Bluff quicky mart in Illinois.

The Peoria City/County Health Department noted in an Oct. 10 report, "A carton containing human vomit was stored on a crate by a display cooler."

Wil Hayes, the department’s director of environmental health, said, "We see all sorts of weird stuff. We haven’t run into vomit in a while."

Following his schnozz, the sanitarian spotted a plastic bucket filled with throw-up, near a cooler.

"It wasn’t in the kitchen area," Hayes said. "But that doesn’t make it any less disgusting."

The owner came in and said a child had vomited. The sanitarian wasn’t impressed by the explanation. He told the owner to remove the puke bucket.

But owner Joseph Sleh told me that he was a victim of circumstance and timing.

A kid had come into the business just before the sanItarian, then threw up on the floor, Sleh said. Sleh cleaned it up by scooping the vomit into a cardboard box, then put it down by the cooler.

Why not get rid of it? Why set it out inside the store?

"I was here by myself," Sleh said. "I couldn’t go take it outside (to the Dumpster)."

There’s no place else to throw it away, inside?

"No."

Years ago, at another business, the department found a similar situation: a container of vomit on a shelf.

"An employee had gotten sick the day before, and went home. Everyone thought he’d thrown it out before he left."

Grocery stores across Tampa Bay receive “Poor” food safety rating from state

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WTSP – Tampa Bay’s news leader – reports that of the hundreds of grocery stores across the Bay area, seven received failing ratings in the latest round of inspections by the State Division of Food Safety. 

According to Florida state guidelines, a poor rating indicates the grocery store was found to be unsatisfactory in meeting sanitation requirements on the day the inspector entered the store.

Good and fair ratings are considered passing and in compliance with sanitation requirements.

The businesses on the list of failing stores include:

• ALDI at 14933 North Florida Ave., Tampa
• La Fiesta Mexican Convenience Store, 1202 S. 22nd St. Tampa
• Rejax Meat Market, 2327 Dr. MLK Jr. St., St. Pete
• Save-A-Lot, at 8854 State Road 52, Hudson
• Costco, at 10921 Causeway Blvd., Brandon
• Kasa Xpress Market, 7020 Cypress Gardens Blvd., Winter Haven
• El Rancho Mejicano, at 5648 SR 674, Wimauma

Violations that trigger a failing grade vary but usually include conditions that can possibly lead to public illness.

On an Oct. 14 inspection of the Rejax Meat Market, the inspector reported finding evidence of insects and/or rodents, with rodent droppings on a shelf in the back room.

An Oct. 27 inspection of the Kasa Xpress Market, the state reports finding live roaches in the storage cupboard, eggs stored at improper temperature, and no soap at an employee sink.

American inspection of imported seafood sucks?

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Finfish, shrimp, and seafood products are some of the most widely traded foods and about 85 percent of seafood consumed in the U.S. is imported. A new study by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future at the Bloomberg School of Public Health shows that testing of imported seafood by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is inadequate for confirming its safety or identifying risks.

The findings, published this month in Environmental Science and Technology, highlight deficiencies in inspection programs for imported seafood across four of the world’s largest importing bodies and show which types of aquatic animals, and from which countries, are most often failing inspection. The study identified a lack of inspection in the U.S. compared to its peers: only 2 percent of all seafood imported into the U.S. is tested for contamination, while the European Union, Japan and Canada inspect as much as 50 percent, 18 percent, and 15 percent of certain imported seafood products. When testing in the U.S. does occur, residues of drugs used in aquaculture, or "fish farms," are sometimes found; above certain concentrations, these drugs are harmful to humans.

Imports to the U.S., E.U., Canada and Japan with the highest frequency of drug violations were shrimp or prawns, eel, crabs, catfish or pangasius, tilapia and salmon. Vietnam, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, India, and Malaysia were identified as the exporters to the U.S., E.U., Canada and Japan with the most drug violations.

Fancy food isn’t safe food: Pusateri’s, Toronto’s most expensive grocer closed by rats, roaches

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Pusateri’s, proudly billed as Toronto’s most expensive grocer — on its shelves are the best quality fruits, vegetables, meats, imported canned goods and a range of prepared food – has been closed by Toronto Public Health due to poor sanitation and pest infestation.

“It is up to the operator to improve their services and arrange a reinspection with the Public Health Inspector,” Toronto Public Health spokeswoman Rishma Govani confirmed to the Star by email Thursday afternoon.

Pusateri’s general manager John Mastroianni, however, said the store was closed for “general maintenance.”

“It’s not rodents,” Mastroianni said, repeatedly insisting that the issue was equipment related and “general maintenance.”

Govani said specifically that the closure was due to poor sanitation and pest infestation.

The inspection arose as a result of a public complaint, she said adding the pest infestation included rats as well as cockroaches.

When confronted again with the confirmation from Toronto Public Health that the store was in fact closed due to poor sanitation and pests, Mastroianni admitted cockroaches had been found in the store.

Fancy food isn’t safe food: Lebanon edition

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The Daily Star reports that when Charbel quit his job recently as a quality control inspector at a catering company that owns a chain of restaurants in Beirut, he felt nothing but relief.

“It was a miserable job,” says Charbel, whose name has been changed to protect his identity. “No one listens to you … it’s not the kitchen staff, it’s the management. They don’t want to spend any money.”

Although he won’t reveal the name of the restaurant he was responsible for monitoring, Charbel describes it as a member of a five-star chain with an attitude toward food safety that is laissez-faire, to say the least.

“The refrigerators don’t work, foods get stacked on top of each other,” he says. “You have vegetables that come in, they stay in the open air for a couple of days, then the mould comes in and the worms, and when you tell them, they just pick [out] the rotten ones and throw them away but leave the rest.”

Charbel says that government inspectors would visit the kitchen, but would rarely notice the flagrant health violations that were taking place.

Asked why customers didn’t complain about cases of food poisoning, Charbel laughs. “No one suspects that a five-star restaurant would give them food poisoning,” he says.
“This is one company, but from my understanding, it’s not an isolated case. This seems to be common in Lebanon. How many people get food poisoning and don’t have enough [money] to go to the hospital?”

Zeina Kassaify, a professor at the American University of Beirut’s department of nutrition and food sciences, and president of the Lebanese Association for Food Safety, says that often, Lebanese consumers who get food poisoning from restaurants don’t report the incident.

Kassaify says that currently, there is no unified governmental system to assess and manage food safety violations. “The responsibilities are so fragmented,” she says.
“You have four or five different ministries that have responsibilities toward food safety … but when you ask whose responsibility it is to administer penalties, you won’t get a satisfactory answer. It’s so chaotic.”

Make (safe) food not war; SoHo restaurant boom closed by health department

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Boom, a SoHo restaurant and music venue, was forced to close down on Friday after New York City health inspectors found evidence of live roaches, flies and plumbing problems.

DNAinfo.com reports the restaurant, which has been open for more than 20 years, racked up 38 health violation points.

The restaurant plans to re-open on Wednesday, manager Marchi Palloni said Tuesday evening.

"Everything is fine now. We just need to make sure that everything is under Health Department laws," he said.

The restaurant, whose slogan is "make food not war," received two other poor health ratings this summer. On Aug. 22, health inspectors found roaches, flies, evidence of rats and "inadequate personal cleanliness." The restaurant received 52 points then.

Several Yelp reviewers described Boom as a hot spot for live music, dancing and people watching, but not dining.

"Come here for the eye candy … not the food," one reviewer wrote.