Raids on the Sizzle Bento and Roll-A-Sushi, owned by parent company World Fashion Food Pty Ltd, uncovered a cockroach infestation, a dishwasher that recycled dirty water, and food being defrosted and stored on the floor.
World Fashion Food Pty Ltd was sentenced by Special Magistrate Margaret Hunter in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday on 11 criminal charges for the breaches of food standards.
Court documents said health authorities discovered a cockroach infestation, a dishwasher that repeatedly recycled dirty water, and an overheated display cabinet during raids at the now closed Sizzle Bento store in Woden Plaza in May 2011.
Cleanliness and food storage breaches were again detected during a second inspection in September 2011.
Pictures tendered in court showed food safety inspectors encountered cockroaches in the food preparation area.
Court documents said the sushi display cabinet had been set at about 10 degrees, instead of the recommended 5 degrees or less.
Four farm based and four affiliated centrally managed butcheries were screened on their food safety climate and level of implemented food safety management system, by application of self-assessment questionnaires. Besides, by product and environmental microbiological sampling, objective data on hygiene status were collected. The food safety climate was scored significantly higher in the centrally managed butcher shops compared to the independent small scale farm butcheries, mainly for the components ‘leadership’ and ‘communication’ while ‘risk awareness’ and ‘commitment’ were equally evaluated.
Food safety climate’ component ‘resources’ was perceived higher in the affiliated butchers shops, but not statistical significant. The study demonstrated that affiliated butcher shops are able to achieve a better microbiological hygiene and safety status, because both a well-elaborated food safety management system and a favorable food safety climate is present in the affiliates. While in the investigated farm butcheries, the overall lower hygiene and safety status is likely to be related to their lower food safety climate score in combination with a more basic food safety management system.
This semi-quantitative case study revealed that employees’ perception of a favorable food safety climate in combination with a fit-for-purpose food safety management system is likely to result in a good and stable microbiological output in food companies.
Interplay between food safety climate, food safety management system and microbiological hygiene in farm butcheries and affiliated butcher shops
Food Control, Available online 12 January 2016
De Boeck L. Jacxsens, M. Bollaerts, M. Uyttendaele, P. Vlerick
Assembly Bill 697 would allow a dairy farmer to sell raw milk, and raw-milk products such as butter and cheese, directly to consumers on the farm where the milk and dairy products were produced. Current law generally prohibits the practice.
AB 697, which now has sponsorship from at least 18 members of the Assembly and three members of the Senate, also exempts dairy farmers from needing a dairy plant or food processing license if the only milk products they process are raw-milk items sold on the farm.
In 2015, state officials suspended for 30 days the Grade-A milk production permit of a Durand dairy farm blamed for a raw-milk illness outbreak that sickened nearly 40 people.
Raw milk advocates say the risks to public health have been exaggerated and the decision to buy an unpasteurized dairy product ought to be left to the consumer.
“That means that even if you sell one cookie at a farmers market, to your neighbor, somewhere in your community, you can go to jail for up to six months or even be fined up to $1,000. That’s not only unfair, it’s unconstitutional,” attorney Erica Smith told Wisconsin Watchdog Wednesday on the Vicki McKenna Show , on NewsTalk 1310 WIBA.
Smith is with the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit law firm that “fights against unreasonable government restrictions on individuals’ economic liberty,” according to the Virginia organizations website.
In a Facebook post, Sarah-jane Williams says she found fly eggs embedded inside the popcorn chicken she ordered from the KFC restaurant in Pukekohe, south Auckland.
Popcorn chicken is a popular KFC product made of “bite-size” pieces of fried chicken.
Williams wrote a public post on a Facebook group page on Friday, saying: “I brought popcorn chicken from Pukekohe KFCtoday for lunch and I found [a] nice surprise in with some of it. Some fly eggs.”
She later made a complaint on KFC’s Facebook page.
KFC responded on Facebook: “We’re really concerned to see this and we need to investigate this with you.”
In an interview on GMA News TV’s “QRT,” city health department chief Dr. Bernard Sese said the children ate biscuits, wafers and other snacks from their school cafeteria during their morning recess at 9:30 a.m.
Seven students complained of stomachaches, vomiting, and nausea by 10:30 a.m. at the school clinic and were followed shortly by a slew of others, he said.
About 44 victims were rushed to the Ospital ng Makati, where they received oral dehydration solutions. Two remained hooked to IV bags at the hospital due to intense vomiting as of Thursday afternoon.
All in all, 127 students had received treatment, the report said.
The dimsum restaurant “does not have adequate refrigeration equipment (or the) capacity to maintain all refrigerated foods at a temperatore of 41 degrees or below,” department inspector Thomas Kolb wrote on Thursday.
Temperatures over 41 degrees promote the rapid growth of potentially toxic bacteria. In his report, Kolb noted that at Joy Tsin Lau, jellyfish, duck and bean sprouts were all being held at temperatures of 50 degrees or more.
The inspector also cited the restaurant for two additional serious risk factors – an employee eating in the kitchen prep area and another who did not follow proper handwashing protocols – and seven lesser infractions.
Brisbane City Council has defended its food safety credentials following criticism over its handling of breaches by the Normanby Hotel.
Brisbane sucks at food safety, I know, I live here.
Today the council marked five years of its EatSafe program which has overseen food safety standards in Brisbane, bringing 1100 businesses to reach a five star safety rating as well as handing out 1782 fines for offending businesses.
This week the council came under fire after it was revealed it took seven inspections of the popular pub before a cockroach infestation was resolved.
Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said the council had followed regular protocol.
“It’s not a case of going wrong,” Cr Quirk said.
“What we’ve done is ensure that we do follow up inspections and we work with licencees.
“Of course you can’t get into the court with a day’s notice.
“You have to make sure that you have the evidence when you go to court, we don’t want to go to court and lose.”
The Normanby Hotel, which was fined $30,000, is among 131 businesses prosecuted for food safety breaches.
Cr Quirk said it had conducted 33,000 surprise audits since 2010, with businesses measured against the 44 criteria of the EatSafe program.
Auditors look at compliance in cleanliness, food storage and handling and pest control with many following complaints from customers.
“Last year over 700 outlets received 0-2 star ratings and council worked with them through education and online training, to bring their business up to compliance standards (3 star rating),” he said.
Quick stats for 2015
– The council cancelled 15 food licences
– It issue 64 immediate suspensions to businesses in breach of food safety standards
– It issued 440 fines to businesses and pursued 28 successful prosecutions of Food Act 2006 breaches
– It raked in fines worth $622,500
Nice cash cow. But did it make food safer? Did fewer people barf?
It’s difficult to fathom Chapman as an expert of anything, except garbage goals in hockey and bailing his PhD supervisor out of jail (as all graduate students should do).
I also hate being called an expert, but I know some stuff.
Dr. Chapman told Technician Online that, “Practicing good hygiene and having systems in place to verify that foods are cooked go a long way in preventing these sort of outbreaks. On the supplier’s side, systems are needed to make sure that suppliers are managing food safety on farms and the processing companies.”
On the individual’s side, Chapman said there is not much a customer can do toensure that the food they get from a retailer is safe. Sanitation scores can be checked as a precaution but mostly it just comes down to trust in the retailer.
“The safety and well-being of our guests are always our highest priority,” said an official statement from Chipotle and Customer Service Consultant Olivia Beltran.
Stephanie K. Baer of The Pasadena Star-News wrote a few days ago that Chipotle’s food safety problems are about much more than where the Denver-based food company gets its ingredients, according to inspection data and experts.
Food safety experts say the fact there have been so many foodborne illness outbreaks in such a short period of time — six different outbreaks of E. coli, norovirus and salmonella in six months — it is indicative of a lack of training and oversight of the fast-food chain’s employees.
While there have been no confirmed reports of customers getting sick at Chipotle locations in Los Angeles County, major health hazards that cause foodborne illness are common at the food chain’s locations in the area.
Outbreaks at restaurants are commonly caused by ill employees and unsafe cooking or holding temperatures of perishable food, among other factors. And at Chipotle, where burritos are constructed with precooked and prepared food at a steam table, maintaining safe food temperatures is a recurring problem, according to inspectiondata and reports.
“There will always be foodborne illnesses, complaints and deficiencies, but what we see here appears to be repeated incidents that are similar in nature and that would suggest a systemic problem within the company that requires further investigation,” said Angelo Bellomo, deputy director for health protection at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
According to Los Angeles County Department of Public Health inspection data, health inspectors observed 126 violations for unsafe hot and cold holding temperatures at Chipotle restaurants — the most common health hazard observed across 84 locations in Los Angeles County — between July 1, 2013, and June 30, 2015.
At the Simi Valley Chipotle, a health inspector who visited the location after the August outbreak found a container of beef held at 118 degrees — more than 15 degrees colder than required hot holding temperatures — according to Ventura County Environmental Health Division documents.
Similar food temperature violations were observed at the Boston restaurant where more than 130 people were sickened by norovirus and in Seattle and Portland area restaurants where the largest numbers of E. coli cases have been confirmed, online inspection reports show.
“It’s ridiculous that they can get that wrong so often,” said Doug Powell, a retired food safety professor and the publisher of barfblog.com.
While cooking food to the proper temperatures kills bacteria that is commonly found on raw meat, keeping food at the proper hot or cold temperatures is important to minimize the growth of pathogenic bacteria, like E. coli and salmonella, that may be in the food.
It’s a problem, Powell noted, that restaurants deal with industrywide — inspection data shows unsafe holding temperatures is the most common public health threat in Los Angeles County restaurants — but other prominent food chains seem to have a better handle on the issue.
Los Angeles County health inspectors observed 146 violations for unsafe hot and cold holding temperatures across 350 McDonald’s facilities between July 1, 2013, and June 30, 2015 — 20 more than what was found at Chipotle facilities — according to inspection data. However, the problem was less common at McDonald’s, where facility and equipment maintenance were the most common health code violations.
“To really get to the heart of this matter they really have to focus on the culture within individual stores and that’s hard with 1,900 outlets,” Powell said. “They have to focus on the things that really make people sick because bacteria don’t care or viruses don’t care if your food is GMO-free or natural.”
Yet despite these obvious flaws, people still go to Chipotle, much like my wife still professes in me.
The Washington Post reports that despite outbreaks of food-borne illness, die-hard Chipotle fans stand by their chain
For burrito brigade, it’s a matter of risk vs. reward
Anne and Jeff Owens love Chipotle. They love it so much that they went there on their wedding day four years ago— she, radiant in her strapless wedding gown and a veiled fascinator in her hair, and he, in his tuxedo and teal vest — to order burritos and pose for photos. They love it so much that the Blacksburg, Va., couple goes back each Aug. 13, their anniversary, to re-create those photos, with their now 3-year-old daughter in tow. They love it so much that even now — even with Chipotle Mexican Grill linked to hundreds of cases of illness because of E. coli, salmonella and norovirus — they still go at least once a week.
“We’re totally willing to throw up a little for tradition,” Anne says. She laughs, then pauses. “That’s probably gross,” she says. “That’s so gross!” But even if their anniversary had come during the height of the outbreak, she adds, “we totally wouldhave gone.”
“Sorry but I still love chipotle. And you have to take risks when it comes to love,” tweeted @calisalafia. “since I continue to eat chipotle knowing the risk i guess you could say i would die for chipotle,” @GNVZT tweeted.
“Sometimes, something gets some sort of odd cult following, and it builds upon itself,” says Anne Owens, who knows of other Chipotle devotees through blogs that round up pictures of fan photos. “We’re among this strange underbelly of Chipotle-obsessed weirdos, and we love our kind. I feel like that doesn’t happen for McDonald’s.”
Her friends have tried to get her to stop eating at the restaurant.
That won’t work. Provide information, let people decide for themselves.
And here’s another lost cause, Johnny Cash, who today in 1968, played a show, which was recorded for his forthcoming live album at Folsom Prison.
JoNel Aleccia of The Seattle Times writes that a 27-year-old Seattle man is suing Chipotle restaurants after he was infected with E. coli in July during an undisclosed outbreak tied to the fast-food chain. Three months later, Chipotle closed dozens of sites in the Northwest because of potential illness.
Timothy Kniffin, a cafe and bakery worker, said he fell ill starting July 25 after eating pork carnitas, white rice, salsa, peppers, guacamole and chips at a Chipotle restaurant at 1415 Broadway in Seattle. He was hospitalized from July 30 through Aug. 2 with an E. coli O157: H7 infection later tied to the restaurant, according to a complaint filed late last month in U.S. District Court in Western Washington.
Officials with Public Health — Seattle & King County confirmed the July E. coli outbreak, which sickened four other people and hospitalized two, including Kniffin. But health officials didn’t publicize the outbreak at the time.
“By the time we were able to make a connection to Chipotle, the outbreak was over,” James Apa, a health department spokesman, said in an email.
Not soon enough for Chipotle investors, who have seen their stock value plummet by 45%.
One investment firm says, long-term investors, noting the current volatility in Chipotle Mexican Grill stock, should try to see past CMG’s issues. The company still serves a quality product and strives to bring satisfaction to its customers. Value minded investors with a long-term mindset could be rewarded vastly; a recovery back to its 52 week high would represent a whopping 82% potential return. However, keep in mind this may take a couple of years to happen.
No, they don’t serve a quality product and are food safety morons.
But that won’t stop students or profs eating there, just like faculty meetings kept ordering Jimmy Johns despite numerous raw sprout outbreaks.
“I will still take the risk and eat there,” said Ana Ward, a UF plant science junior.
The 20-year-old said she is not worried about getting sick.
“I feel like the chance is really small, and you would take that risk with any restaurant,” she said.
Keith Schneider, a UF food science and human nutrition professor, said it would be rare to contract E. coli from the Chipotle near campus.
“The fact that we haven’t seen any foodborne illnesses in Florida, let alone the entire Southeast, probably would lead me to believe that there is no greater risk eating at a Chipotle in the Southeast than there is in any other fast food type restaurant,” Schneider said.
It is not unusual to find E. coli in low numbers when food is being produced organically, he said.
“The widespread nature of (Chipotle E. coli outbreaks), leads you to believe that it is some environmental source for the contamination,” Schneider said.
The contamination of Chipotle food is likely a result of improperly composted fertilizer or wild animals tracking the bacteria through the supplier’s fields, he said.
There are hundreds of different strains of E. coli, some more severe than others, Schneider said. The most common strain heard about in the news is E. coli O157:H7.
Johnny Ray’s Barbecue on Huntley Parkway in South Pelham remains closed. On Friday, the Alabama Department of Public Health shut down the restaurant after four people tested positive for salmonella.
The temporary closure of that Johnny Ray’s is causing some confusion for the other Johnny Ray’s in Pelham. The general manager of the restaurant on Pelham Parkway, near Oak Mountain, Darrell Hall, told WIAT that they’ve taken a huge hit financially.
Hall said, over the weekend, they only brought in a third of the business they usually do. They hope Bama fans come in on Monday for some barbecue and to watch the National Championship Game.
Hall said, “We are open for business. This is not the store that’s been contaminated. We hate it for the other location, but we are here. We’re open for you, and we are looking forward to a big night.”
Raids on the Sizzle Bento and Roll-A-Sushi, owned by parent company World Fashion Food Pty Ltd, uncovered a cockroach infestation, a dishwasher that recycled dirty water, and food being defrosted and stored on the floor.
