Dale J. Venturini
President/CEO, RI Hospitality Association
If you were to ask someone to name an occupation where a person put their life in the hands of another person, chances are, they would name a surgeon, a firefighter, a paramedic, or maybe an airline pilot. I am willing to guess that few, if any, would suggest the occupation of restaurant operator or food service provider. It may seem a little dramatic, but that’s exactly what tens of millions of Americans do every single day.
Most of our customers never give more than a fleeting thought to food safety when they visit our establishments, and that’s to our credit. They trust that we will follow the safeguards put in place by state and federal regulators, as well as our own self-imposed standards for quality assurance. However, from time to time, the safeguards breakdown. Sometimes, an irresponsible supplier, manufacturer, or distributor fails to meet their responsibilities. Sometimes, people are negligent.
In 2009, a nationwide salmonella outbreak cause by tainted peanut butter lead to nine deaths and more than 600 illnesses. In 2010, another salmonella outbreak led to the largest egg recall in the history of the United States.
Then, this year, Rhode Island’s popular St. Joseph’s day tradition of serving a cream-filled pastry called a zeppole was marred by a salmonella outbreak that captured nationwide attention. Two people died, and more than 75 others became ill. According to media reports, the tainted zeppole’s were traced back to a local bakery, and the Rhode Island Department of Health said it found a laundry list of violations which lead to the deadly outbreak. Several lawsuits are now pending.
All three of these examples should serve as stern reminders that we, as restaurant operators and food preparers, are the first line of defense against food-borne illnesses. And with the arrival of summer, we must now exercise an even higher level of vigilance to ensure our food products are safe.
With all of this bad news in the media and in the public domain, there has never been a better time to contact your restaurant association and make sure that if you are a restaurateur, that your staff is compliant with safe food handling training and certification. At RIHA, we’ve taken it one step further and have partnered with the RI Department of Health to provide private safety audits and inspections for a fee. This allows restaurants to understand where they are potentially at risk and to correct those issues immediately before they potentially become a public safety hazard. For more information on this service, visit our website.
Many of us watch the handling of food in our kitchens with the eyes of a hawk. We make sure our employees are washing their hands; we make sure clean utensils are being used; we make sure to avoid cross contamination in prep areas. But, that is not enough. How many of you can confidently recite regulations with regard to safe temperatures for transporting food? We place great trust in our suppliers, but our work should begin the moment the delivery truck pulls up to our loading dock. A malfunctioning cooling system on a delivery truck, even for just a few minutes, can prove disastrous on a 100 degree day.
Do you check to make sure delivery temperatures are within the legal parameters? For the vast majority of foods (there are some exceptions), it should be at a temperature of 5°C (41°F) or below when received.
Do you check your fridge, freezer or whatever is being kept on ice in the kitchen to make sure temperatures meet previously established guidelines for safety? If you don’t, you should be. There’s no excuse. During the hot summer months, the temperature of food can easily climb a couple of degrees without showing any visible difference. But, that small change could mean the difference between something that is safe to consume, and something that could become potentially harmful to your customers. Again, it is of critical importance to make sure that your staff is fully trained and certified according to your state’s department of health codes.
So much trouble and so many illnesses can be avoided by simply following proven safety practices. It’s something the vast majority of businesses that I have come in contact with take very, very seriously. We are the first line of defense against food-borne illnesses. That is why it is critical that we self-police our own kitchens. After all, when customers enter our establishments, they really are putting their health in our hands.
