Being a bit of a food safety geek, I’m all about stops/pictures related to famous food safety events. 

Two from this week:

Note the ironic driver safety sign "Safety is our #1 concern" on the Odwalla truck. Odwalla was linked to a 1996 E. coli O157 outbreak associated with unpasteurized juice.

We also filled up at a Sheetz gas station.  In 2004, Sheetz was at the centre of a Salmonella outbreak linked to tomatoes.

A couple of iFSN commentaries where these outbreaks are discussed can be found here:
Odwalla

Sheetz

After a great week at IAFP in Orlando, I’m making my way back to Guelph via Bucknell (have a talk at the Renaissance Nutrition conference there on Wednesday).

Stopped yesterday in Charleston and grabbed a picture of this restaurant inspection disclosure sign to add to our collection.  These systems are all over the place, usually in response to exposes like this one from the New Zealand Herald.  In the absence of a proactive posting system, whether online or or at point of service like the one from Charleston, public health authorities leave themselves open to journalists to dig up " the dirt on the dozens of restaurants and food outlets failing to meet basic food hygiene standards."  There isn’t a lot of research to suggest that these systems actually reduce the incidence of foodborne illness, but that doesn’t mean that the information shouldn’t be there if possible.  It’s one way for a health authority to start a food safety dialogue with their clients in the community.

Public health is funded with public money and taxpayers should expect to be able to access the inspection results of their favourite (or not so favourite) sites.  The information may not tell them much about what goes on in the kitchen, but it is a start.   What’s more important to me is what is happening when the inspector isn’t there.

A slimmed down iFSN PhD student Ben Chapman gave an enthusiastically received talk talk today at the International Association for Food Protection annual meeting in Orlando, Florida. Ben wowed the audience with his hip pop culture references and self-directed sardonic statements,  but he’s still a geek.

Ben talked about his PhD research related to food safety information sheets targeted at food service workers, something along the lines of what was reported in my hometown paper tonight. Traditional food safety communications is failing the 18-30-year-olds — the ones who most likely made your dinner if you went out. So we’ll experiment with something different.

Amy and I and three of my daughters — Courtlynn, Braunwynn and Jaucelynn —  begin our journey to the International Association of Food Protection annual meeting in Orlando tomorrow, and we’d take our dogs and have a meal on a patio in Sarasota, but there just isn’t room in the truck.

The Sarasota City Commission, in an unanimous vote Monday, agreed that dogs should be allowed to accompany their owners in the outdoor dining areas of restaurants which have obtained the required doggy dining permit. The ordinance only pertains to outdoor dining and only to restaurants which opt into the program by obtaining the permit. The Sarasota County Health Department will enforce the doggy dining ordinance and permits are available from the Sarasota County Health Department for $150.

As we’ve written before, it’s a good idea, but only at the discretion of restaurant staff and only if staff and owners follow the Florida protocol, which includes:

• food service employees must not touch, pet or handle dogs while serving food or beverages;

• food service employees must wash their hands promptly after touching, petting or handling dogs;

• patrons must be advised to wash their hands before eating and the restaurant must provide waterless hand sanitizer at each table;

• dogs must not come into contact with serving dishes, utensils and tableware or other items involved in food service (this is the only applicable law in France);

• dogs will not be allowed on chairs, tables or other furnishings;

• accidents involving dog waste must be cleaned immediately and the area must be sanitized;

• cats and other pets are not covered by the law; and,

• local governments can issue a fee to the restaurants for  permit.