More and more, food allergies are becoming a big issue. As it is now, around 15 million people have a food allergy, and this number is growing. The CDC is reporting an 18 percent increase in food allergies from 1997–2007, and the prevalence of peanut allergies among children tripled in that same time period. These 8 foods account for 90 percent of all food allergies: Milk Eggs Peanuts Tree nuts: walnuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios, pecans Wheat Soy Fish Shellfish: crab, crayfish, lobster, shrimp With so many people having food allergies, it's important to properly disclose what foods have allergens. Commercially packaged products are required to disclose allergens, … [Read more...]
Restaurants: Provide Allergy Info to Protect Customers and Your Business
January 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Forget Pink Slime, What about Poopy Chicken?
January 20, 2013 by 1 Comment
In the last couple of months, the outrage over “safer” beef known as pink slime has been overwhelming, but what about chicken? A shocking report was just released by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) on fecal contamination in retail chicken. In the report, the PCRM uncovered that nearly half the chicken tested was contaminated with feces. The poultry industry has yet to develop methods to make sure the chicken slaughter process doesn’t result in fecal contamination of the chicken. An independent analytical testing laboratory did the testing with chicken from 15 grocery store chains in 10 major cities. Kroger brand actually had 100 percent of their samples test positive … [Read more...]
Restaurant 911: Prevent Imminent Health Hazard Closures
January 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
"Sorry, we're closed"—These 3 words are possibly the worst a manager can hear from a health inspector. There are very specific events that can lead to an imminent health hazard closure. It could be an interruption in service in one facility or a large-scale emergency that could lead to all facilities closing down. It's important to understand what could lead to a closure and how to develop plans to avoid it. 2009 FDA Food Code Imminent health hazard means a significant threat or danger to health that is considered to exist when there is evidence sufficient to show that a product, practice, circumstances or event creates a situation that requires immediate correction or cessation of … [Read more...]
Total Recall: Hold Suppliers Accountable for Their Outbreaks
January 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurants often have many casualties. The customers and restaurants assume the consequences. Paying hefty settlements to victims and the loss of reputation can cripple an organization while the supplier remains untouched. Even restaurants with the best food safety practices can't escape an outbreak, which is why we see outbreaks associated with restaurants almost every day. Jimmy John's keeps getting ripped apart for serving contaminated sprouts, but should we be blaming them for sourcing sprouts that were contaminated from their supplier? Maybe so, but when suppliers ship out product that is contaminated and it leads to an outbreak, they often find ways … [Read more...]
Food Safety Training Tug of War
January 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
All over the country, health districts and food industry representatives are debating the best way to train food service workers in critical food safety areas. Some districts have only recently required training, such as California, while others have been providing it for decades. Ensuring all food service employees have proper and effective food safety training is an extremely important factor in reducing foodborne illness and both local health departments and the food industry have a vested interest to ensure it continues to improve. In the past, many health departments had direct control over food safety training in their areas, but many of these programs haven't been updated since … [Read more...]
Stay on Top of Food Safety with Health Inspection Checklists
January 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
A health inspection can be a very frustrating experience in a restaurant. Someone you don't know is telling you what is wrong with your business. Oftentimes, things are pointed out that you had no idea were problems. If you had known it was a problem, then it would have already been addressed, but it took a health inspector to point it out. These inspections would go much easier if a process was in place to identify these problem areas. This process can be developed by doing your own health inspection. In-house inspections can be very beneficial to not only find and correct problems before the health inspector finds them, but it will also greatly improve the food safety program of the … [Read more...]
Anatomy of a Foodborne Illness Complaint, Part 4: Outbreak
January 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
It's unsettling to think that food served from a restaurant can lead to hundreds of people getting ill and possibly dying, but it happens more often then we would like to admit. It can be the result of untrained or sick employees, serving contaminated products or an overall lack of respect for food safety. A restaurant's involvement in an outbreak can be devastating. It often starts with 1 or 2 phone calls from sick customers. This doesn't seem too alarming since complaints occasionally come from customers, but nothing ever resulted in a confirmed foodborne illness. However, in an outbreak, there could be more calls coming into the health department at the same time. The health department … [Read more...]
Dennis Keith has been working as a restaurant and food safety professional for more than 20 years.