Tag Archives: restaurant

Suspected norovirus outbreak linked to PEI restaurant; 20 sick

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When I think fine dining in Manhattan (Kansas), I think seafood, specifically mussels.

It’s like that WKRP episode where Mr. Carlson comes up with a fund-raiser theme – Surf City, USA, in Cincinnati, Ohio.

I’ve eaten my share of mussels lately, and they all seem to come from Prince Edward Island – that’s in Canada, and a long way to ship a cheap bivalve (those are some New Zealand mussels, right).

Charlottetown, the provincial capital of the Rhode Island of the north, is reporting a probable outbreak of foodborne illness amongst 20 diners who ate at the Churchill Arms between 5 and 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 7.

There is no food left for sampling from the suspect meals and the cause of the illness among those who were ill has not yet been confirmed. However, the symptoms reported are very suggestive of the Norwalk virus which has been identified in PEI recently in the community. The illness appears to have been limited to those who ate over the two and one half hour period that one night.

New York restaurants turn to consultants for inspection help

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Trying to navigate the ever-changing demands of local health codes, restaurants in New York City are increasingly seeking out consultants to improve hygiene standards before a city inspector shows up.

It’s not a new concept; the big chain restaurant and grocery stores have been using outside consultants or their own people to ensure their food offerings produced and sold in a safe and hygienic manner. Government inspection sets a minimal standard that the best places strive to exceed – and no one wants to be written up in the local paper or have to display a lousy inspection result because of mistakes that could have been prevented.

The New York Times reports this morning there is an almost entirely unregulated cottage industry that has evolved in New York to run interference with the health department, even pleading the restaurants’ cases at the administrative tribunal where violations can be reduced or dismissed.

Note the conspiratorial angle.

Though the number of consultants in New York appears to be rising, a precise figure is difficult to come by. The health department began requiring that consultants register their names and contact information only last year; as of March 16, the department listed 104. They typically represent about one-third of the restaurants appearing before the tribunal, and display varying degrees of competence in doing so.

Thomas Merrill, the department’s general counsel, said,

“There’s people we have a tremendous amount of respect for. Some of them I don’t know if we’d all hire if we had a restaurant.”

Just like with third-party food safety auditors.

The inspectors issue punitive points for infractions like food kept at the wrong temperature, cutting boards with potentially bacteria-harboring grooves or a lack of proof that the croissants were made without trans fats.

The number of points, and the severity of the penalties, vary with the offense; according to the department’s guide, a “woman in gray slacks carrying poodle on service line” is much less serious than a “woman in gray slacks carrying poodle on service line, man with mustache with a parrot on shoulder at the salad bar, a child with a rabbit at the dining table and a woman with a cat on a leash at coffee bar.”

Who writes this stuff?

Someone changes a baby’s diaper on a restaurant table, would you say anything?

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One of Amy’s former students and her Canadian hubby are living in Montreal, where Mary documents their wild and crazy antics on her blog, somewhere over the poutine.

While visiting family in Burlington, Vermont, the gang went out for lunch at Al’s Kitchen, where a young father pulled a Britney Spears and mistook a dining table as a diaper changing station.

As described by Evan,

“No blanket, nor cleaning agent was used during or after, it was cheek-to-table (possibly orange carrot paste poop. Minutes later, after a couple of wipes and a pat to the toddler’s bum, a group of unfortunate hungry, hairy, b-ball jersey sportin’ teens sat down and feasted. …

“In honor of food safety, as an observer turned participant, where does my responsibility stand? Should we have chastised the changer? Notified the staff? Where would the fault lay if someone were to fall ill?”

Comments? I would have at least told staff, so they could intervene.

Mary has an entertaining, R-rated version of the event on her blog.
 

Hawaii restaurant linked to E. coli O157 outbreak

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Honolulu restaurant Peppa’s Korean BBQ was ordered to close on Thursday after being linked to an outbreak of E. coli O157 in seven people.

Officials said four of the seven patients were hospitalized and one of them is still in a hospital.

The health department said Peppa’s has agreed to cooperate fully and will remain closed and work with the DOH on an intensive mitigation plan to correct permit violations. The restaurant’s management will be required to attend the Sanitation Branch’s Food Safety Certification Workshop to receive training on proper food-handling practices.

You wear a thong to this restaurant, you pay extra

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Darwin is way up north in Australia, near the equator, so it’s hot most of the time.

But that’s no excuse for fat German tourists in Speedos. Anywhere.

Northern Territory News reports that of John Spellman’s Tramontana restaurant on McMinn St. is now charging patrons $10 for wearing thongs while they dine (and they probably mean flip-flops, but the idea of dining in a thong made a better story).

The "thongage" charge is announced in a sign on the door Last night Mr Spellman said the "campaign" was setting the tone for his "boutique" restaurant.

"It’s a formal restaurant – tablecloths, napkins. I wear shoes and socks," he said.

"There’s actually a button on the register. I just put it on the bill – you don’t have to argue about it. Two lamb chops, one thongage.

Kitchen confidential no more: sanitation grades will be good for New York diners and restaurateurs

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So says Tim Zagat, co-founder and chief executive of Zagat Survey in this morning’s N.Y. Times, adding,

This system can only benefit the restaurant industry, and the health board has been eminently reasonable in what it proposes to do. What’s more, the public overwhelmingly favors the idea. In a recent survey by my company, 83 percent of respondents said that they would like to have grades posted. …

In essence, the New York plan merely makes routine health inspection results more transparent. The city has inspected restaurants for decades, but the results have been available only online or at the health department; now they will be displayed in the restaurant itself. Establishments that fail to get an A on the first inspection will be given a second examination within 30 days, giving them time to correct any failings found in the first go-around.

Quite simply, the inspection process is intended to keep us safe when dining out. … The restaurant association would do well to take its place at the table — and support the proposed grading system.

Hundreds of DC area restaurants violate health codes

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All these stories about local health code violations rarely get to the real issues – what is a critical violation, how is it defined, who decides and why is food safety training so apparently ineffective?

Health inspectors nailed at least 1,900 area restaurants and food vendors — including the swanky Palm and Georgia Brown’s — for violations ranging from rat infestations to "slime"-covered water spigots during a three-month period, according to health department records obtained by The Washington Examiner.

Health inspectors in Virginia, Maryland and the District closed at least 116 area food establishments as a result of major health code infractions.

But hundreds of other restaurants were allowed to remain open, despite racking up critical violations such as expired food and preparing dishes with open wounds. All the violations occurred between Nov. 1 and Feb. 1.

A health inspector observed 11 critical health code violations at Gordon Biersch, which tied Georgia Brown’s for the most among D.C. restaurants during one inspection.

A hand-written report described one barehanded cook "preparing desserts with cuts/sores on fingers," and said employees were cleaning dining utensils and dishes with dirty rags between servings, and using the same pair of tongs to handle cooked and raw food.

And in Virginia, Alexandria’s upscale Brabo by Robert Wiedmaier was cited for 10 critical health code violations during one inspection.

However, Brabo owner and Executive Chef Wiedmaier said the violations — which included kitchen employees drinking from uncovered containers and handling toasted bread with bare hands — did not endanger customers’ health, and the use of the word "critical" was misleading.

"No one’s ever been sick here," he said. "I run clean, professional restaurants, and I pride myself on how people see my kitchens."

How would he know? He wouldn’t.

Serving food and crack may not mix

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More than 90 restaurants in Metro Vancouver were told to close their doors after they were found with rodent infestations, unsanitary conditions, or a failure to store food properly, according to an investigation of restaurant inspection histories for the past three years by CTV News.

And many more were repeatedly cited — but not closed — for other violations, the most common of which were leaving food out that should be refrigerated, failure to wash surfaces, and not providing hand washing stations to employees.

"We’re looking for any signs that might lead us to believe there might be an outbreak of food poisoning," said Nick Losito, Vancouver Coastal Health’s director of health protection.

One of those restaurants that was shut down was a Vancouver legend — The Only Seafood Restaurant on Hastings Street.

Once a bustling destination for seafood since it opened the 1920s, The Only is now filled with rat feces and dead insects.

The health department closed The Only last year — not just because inspectors said the food was a public health hazard, but because inspectors discovered it was a crack den as well.

CTV will be running a week-long series on food safety. Last night’s video is available here.

Dubai inspectors close four restaurants

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Maybe this was because Chapman and all those food safety types were in town, but four restaurants in Dubai were shut down two weeks ago following tips from customers and employees.

Ahmed AbdulRahman al Ali, the head of the municipality’s food inspection section, said the offenders were also slapped with a fine of more than Dh30,000, adding,

??“The restaurants have been shut for a month. After finishing the penalty term, they have to convince us that the food being used is safe. They will also have to sign an agreement to not repeat the offence.”