Foodborne illness and food poisoning is a real problem for restaurants. No owner wants to be responsible for making customers sick. Having one foodborne illness complaint can be very traumatic, but look at what Chipotle dealt with last year—six outbreaks in six months, 500 sick people across 10 states. They went around the horn twice with three of the most common foodborne illnesses: Salmonella, Norovirus, and E. coli. They lost more than $10 billion in stock value alone. Have a Foodborne Illness Response Plan Most small independent restaurants won’t ever have to deal with foodborne illness at the level of Chipotle’s outbreak, but what do they do when they receive just one complaint? … [Read more...]
Food Safety Report
Food safety stories are always in headlines. Here's information on one with a confirmed outbreak, one with an outbreak but kept anonymous, another banned from serving raw meat, and a restaurant in Wisconsin closed for unsanitary conditions. Margarita's Linked to 200 Norovirus Cases A Michigan restaurant, Margarita's, is suspected in a norovirus outbreak. So far, 200 people who ate at the restaurant have become ill. The Ottowa County Health Department closed the restaurant after confirming the norovirus cases. Health Department Not Disclosing Source of E. coli Outbreak Last April, a restaurant in Orange County, California, was linked to an E. coli outbreak from romaine lettuce. … [Read more...]
No Bare Hand Contact Rule Confuses Oregon Restaurants
Oregon restaurants are all up in arms about a new health rule set to go into effect July 1. No bare hand contact with ready-to-eat foods first surfaced in the FDA Food Code in 1993, when states and restaurant industry professionals worked together to apply a comprehensive approach to hand washing as well as limited bare hand contact with food, but it has taken until this year for Oregon to join the discussion. Many Oregon restaurants see this rule as unnecessary. The 2009 FDA Food Code, the most recent version, doesn't allow bare hand contact with ready-to-eat foods, and Oregon restaurant operators don't like it. They're afraid it will cost more money and lead to more waste, and they're … [Read more...]
Dennis Keith has been working as a restaurant and food safety professional for more than 20 years.