What Consumers Should Know About Food Safety [1 ed.] 9781681142227, 9781681142210

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What Consumers Should Know About Food Safety

David Walpuck Anaphora Literary Press Augusta, Georgia

Anaphora Literary Press 2419 Southdale Drive Hephzibah, GA 30815 http://anaphoraliterary.com Book design by Anna Faktorovich, Ph.D. Copyright © 2015 by David Walpuck All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from David Walpuck. Writers are welcome to quote brief passages in their critical studies, as American copyright law dictates. Printed in the United States of America, United Kingdom and in Australia on acid-free paper. Edited by: Cortney Radocaj Published in 2016 by Anaphora Literary Press What Consumers Should Know About Food Safety David Walpuck—1st edition.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015955497

Library Cataloging Information Walpuck, David. What consumers should know about food safety / David Walpuck 94 p. ; 9 in. ISBN 978-1-68114-221-0 (softcover : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-68114-262-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-68114-222-7 (ebook) 1. Business & Economics—Industries—Food Industry. 2. Health & Fitness—Nutrition. 3. Health & Fitness—Safety. I. Title. RA601-602: Food and food supply in relation to public health 641: Food & drink

What Consumers Should Know About Food Safety

David Walpuck

Contents Introduction Tell It Like It Is Boogie Down Onset Time A Brief History of Foodborne Illness Stinky Finger ILT An Unsuspecting Victim Crunchy Funds Cross-Contamination Norovirus Burgers, Beer and Campylobactor Second Degree Perception is everything FOIL Terrorism through Food There Is an App for That Mus Musculus The Buffet Chemical Hazards Unapproved Source What’s That Smell? Rub a Dub Send it to the Lab A Situation Conclusion

8 11 14 18 21 26 29 32 35 38 41 45 48 51 54 57 60 63 65 68 71 75 79 83 85 88 91

about the author

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avid Walpuck has over twenty five years in the food service industry, is a Certified Professional in Food Safety (CPFS) and Trainer from the National Environmental Health Association, an Administrator for The National Registry of Food Safety Professionals, member of the International Association for Food Protection, Certified in HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) from Rutgers University, is the author of Contaminated: Negligence in Food Safety, a contributing author to Food Safety News, and has more than fifteen years of experience auditing, consulting, and teaching. No part of this book has anything to do with the locations he currently oversees for health and sanitation. He was inspired to write the collection of short stories not only from what he has witnessed in the food service industry, but also as a concerned consumer and from the foodborne illnesses he has personally contracted.

INTRODUCTION

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ood safety continues to be an ongoing issue in the United States and the rest of the world. Whether it is a domestic problem or an international one, contamination has the potential to affect millions of people and continues to pose a risk to public health, job productivity, and increased liability for companies. Viral infections in frozen products, undeclared allergens, contaminated produce, Norovirus outbreaks, emerging drug resistant pathogens, suspect species of animal proteins, killer caramel apples, metal screws in bakery products, and sick workers handling food—this is just a short list of real examples regarding issues around food safety. Ever changing and improving laws, legislation, company policy, surveillance and science have helped; however, increased awareness has not had the desired results. The risk remains consistent and, in most cases, hidden. Even at home. Unfortunately, there are individuals in the food service industry who put a dollar sign on everything. Some would intentionally save or make a dollar by risking the public’s health and well-being. Selling inferior food for pennies on the dollar with high levels of pathogenic microorganisms has and will continue to be a problem. As long as people need to eat, a careless attitude will remain toward processing safe food; there will always be a desire to be profitable. This practice will continue—it is an infinite thing. Budget cuts, adequate insurance coverage, and labor reduction are other shortcomings in the industry that endanger food safety. In some cases, there simply isn’t enough money allocated to get the job done. Whether it’s a reduction in training, personnel, inspections, equipment, or facility maintenance, these necessary proactive aspects of producing safe food get eliminated when push comes to shove. An unstable economic climate not only affects the privately owned food manufactures, growers, or retail businesses, but it also hits the regulatory agencies charged with protecting the public. Even the government has to tighten its belt. Another real risk is to our vast food supply is premeditated adulteration and bio-terrorism. When someone deliberately puts rat poison or sewing needles in sandwiches, pesticide in ground beef, or homegrown Salmonella in the salad bar, the attempt is criminal. The hijackings in 2001 were horrific enough—now agri-

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cultural crops, manufacturing plants, water supplies, and even the local restaurant should be the forefront of security in the industry. It is not just the responsibility of local, state, and federal health departments—it’s everyone’s. If you think that these things are out of the realm of possibility, you are grossly mistaken. Food defense is of great concern. I have now worked in the retail food service industry for over twenty years as an operator in every facet imaginable, and then in food safety as an auditor, consultant, teacher, training developer, and author. My work has taken me many places over the years and has exposed me to many different things; some good, some bad, and some truly ugly. So ugly, in fact, that I felt I needed to share them with people as a learning experience. What Consumers Should Know About Food Safety is a follow up to my first edition. It is another true collection of twenty-five short stories dealing what I have witnessed in and outside the food service industry, education on why the issue is a problem, the potential for illness or liability, and to give the reader a dose of what can go on behind the scenes in a food service establishment. Most people have a story to tell—or in my case, several stories—and feel that they can write a book. They probably can if they have the desire to put in the necessary work that is required. The writing is easy and enjoyable part, the marketing (especially if you self-publish), on the other hand, is difficult and time consuming. For my first book, Contaminated: Negligence in Food Safety, I went on local radio and TV, used social media, had business and post cards made up and distributed, blogged like a champion, created press releases, spoke at public events, approached magazines and newspapers, created a website, and gave away free copies to potential readers. I even hooked up the local library. All that work and money spent did little for book sales. My best friend’s 13 yearold daughter hit the nail on the head when she told me straight up, “Maybe you would sell more books if you wrote about things people like”. This was even more of an inspiration to tell it like it is. I’m not a rock star, so fame and fortune has yet to knock on my door. I liken the experience to selling the idea of proper food safety (which is not the most popular topic, I agree) and when I was a kid having my first entrepreneurial adventure trying to sell rocks I painted on my parent’s front lawn. The painted rock market seemed like a unique and great idea for a little squirt like me, but after harassment from the older kids and the lack of interest from the neighbors, I got the hint but persevered. My original lemonade

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stand was a bust because the market was cornered by the cute little girl who lived up the street. My dad made a pity purchase for my rocks, and he was the only one. Regardless, belief in your work and staying positive is the key to improvement. It is not all about making a lot of money; it’s about fulfilling a dream, educating people, describing reality as well as providing a few laughs along the way. My book is designed for the everyday consumer and to get a reaction from the reader, whatever that emotion may be. If I provoked one, I did my job, especially if you have learned something. I sincerely hope you enjoy the book. Stay safe, use a food thermometer to check internal temperatures (don’t guess), always properly wash hands and please use some common sense when handling food, you may just save someone from contracting a foodborne illness and yourself the potential liability and negative image that follows.

TELL IT LIKE IT IS

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n my first book, as in this one, I am brutally honest with my observations, experiences, descriptions, thoughts, and advice. As a food safety practitioner, I cannot wave a magic wand to turn the disgusting into the beautiful, the dumb into the brilliant, or fact into fiction. Changing behavior is not a simple task. In the food service industry, health and sanitation should be the top priority. Profitability is also up there, and I understand that. However, there has to be compromise, and unfortunately there are individuals who don’t understand this or ignore the difference between what is right and wrong. People who make money selling food do not want to hear the fact that their establishments aren’t safe. But in the interest of protecting consumer health and wellbeing, you must “tell it like it is”. Food service operators who do not have issues with health and sanitation plan, budget, and train staff accordingly. They realize the potential risk and proactively address food safety as part of their business model. Interestingly enough, it is those people who are successful and have a sustainable, growing business in the long run. Throughout my career as a food safety practitioner, I have given a lot of advice to people working in food service establishments. Mostly it was in the form of an audit; as the old saying goes, “if you didn’t write it down, it didn’t happen”. This always holds true, especially in a court of law. Some of the biggest pieces of discoverable evidence in a legal case regarding a foodborne illness investigation

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(besides e-mails if the source of the contamination has been traced back to your food operation) are audits, temperature logs, HACCP plans, certificates, and any other form of training documentation. All of these may or may not indicate liability. I’ve also given verbal direction, mostly in a running dialogue where I would talk about potential issues as well as those that are observed. In either form, it is up to the operator to follow up with corrective actions. I cannot tell you how many times managers have dropped the ball when it comes to rectifying food safety problems. Whether it was carelessness, lack of manpower, or the resistance to spend the almighty dollar, it just didn’t get done; I have an abundance of examples of negligence. Once, I went to a food service establishment on the 22nd of the month. I wrote a report and physically showed management what I cited, including some of the following: 1) Dust on a refrigeration fan unit, 2) an employee beverage in the food preparation area, 3) dirty floors, and 4) fresh mouse droppings on the floor in the back storage area. The last item listed was deemed a critical violation in this instance. In the audit, I also warned them repeatedly that they were overdue for their annual inspection by the health department, almost to the date. Guess who shows up three days later on the 25th, the health department. Guess what that health inspector observed? The same exact things I wrote on my consultation three days earlier, including the same exact mouse droppings. No one had cleaned them up. To eradicate a rodent issue takes time, but at the very least, sweep up the evidence. This way if the area is cleaned of droppings and they re-appear two days later in the same location, at least you have an idea of where the rodent travels. If the droppings do not reappear, it could be one of two things—the mice may have been eliminated or they may have been forced to another part of the building. The management staff completely ignored my suggestions and they justifiably failed their health inspection. Their critical deficiency on the inspection became public knowledge; by law the report had to be posted on the front window of the establishment. It was reported on a website of a local watchdog group that was interested in disclosing health violations. The management staff was embarrassed and my relationship with them soured slightly, especially after they had the nerve to call me an asshole. But really, who is the asshole in this case? Unbelievably, store management received absolutely no ramifications for their inaction. They were never rightfully held account-

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able, and they skated by with a lack luster verbal warning—not even a slap on the wrist. To me, a suspension without pay for the manager responsible would have been appropriate; it would have sent a strong message throughout the company. I did print up both reports, mine and the health department’s, and showed my wife the stunning similarities. She said “Wow, honey you really know your shit!” It took a moment to sink into my brain. Her subtle pun made light of the rodent excrement that everyone saw, yet did nothing about. The frustration that accompanies this kind of blatant negligence does not bother me anymore. In the beginning of my career, I almost took it personally, like I was on some crusade to save the universe. Now, it still bothers me when basic food safety recommendations are ignored, but I realize that it takes proper follow through from the food service operations staff to get the desired results. Unfortunately, some individuals in the industry like to close their eyes to problems and hope that they will simply go away by themselves. The only thing you can do as a food safety inspector is to be direct and tell it like it is. • Call a spade a spade (playing a card game with someone’s potential health and well-being through contaminated food can yield disastrous results) • Do not worry about hurting people’s feelings (thick skin is necessary in most job occupations) • Let people know how you really feel (little white lies can cause a distortion in reality) • Enlighten employees about the consequences of their actions or inactions (it may affect their employment status) Of course being professional and tactful with your communication is also strongly recommended. However difficult it may be telling someone that they need to wash their hands, understand food temperature, properly label ingredients, limit potential contamination, how dirty their kitchen is, or explaining their other food safety shortcomings, always remember that in the end it is better to protect public health and limit liability, no matter what obstacles that may be presented. It’s just part of the job.

BOOGIE DOWN

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y assignment this particular morning was to inspect a quick service restaurant. It was in an urban area of New York City, and the parking at this location sucked. My first choice was on the street, where there was one hour metered parking. Food safety audits take more than one hour if done properly, so I’d be forced to stop, run out to my car, and feed the meter. The cops would wait for me to go over the time limit, circling like buzzards to write me a ticket, a crime not worthy of so much attention. If by chance I was parked in the way of the department of sanitation on garbage pick-up day, they would ticket my vehicle and put a huge orange sticker on my back window. That thing is obnoxious and almost impossible to take off. If I was graced with one of those, I would drive around town like a shining beacon of irresponsibility. My second parking choice was in a garage at a ridiculously inflated price, where my buggy would be subject to dents, missing items, and dealing with an attendant that always had an attitude and always wanted a fat tip. To my relief there was a primo spot on the street very close to the location I had to inspect. I fed the meter and went in. The first thing that I couldn’t help but notice, besides the foul odor (which smelled like a pleasant mixture of hair spray, grease, sewage, and burnt chicken), was the excessive filth and the bullet proof glass where the cashier would slide your food under it after you ordered. This protective barrier had graffiti, food debris, and—most disconcertingly—bullet marks after someone did try to shoot through it. Three distinct bullet indentations were evident. Maybe someone

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wanted the loot or the speed of service wasn’t quite up to par. The manager told me that they didn’t want to replace the shot up bulletproof glass because it actually sent a message to any future criminals that it worked. Genius… Food, like some crime-ridden neighborhoods, can be dangerous in more ways than one. The next thing that stood out in the kitchen area was the amount of flies. They were everywhere, including a few toes-up fatalities that were in the exposed dry food ingredients. Those products were deemed adulterated and had to be discarded. Enormous house flies were buzzing throughout the preparation area; they were so fat and well-fed that they had trouble remaining airborne for any significant length of time. Some of those bad boys sounded like B-52 bombers as they flew by. The back corner of the kitchen had an infestation of these insects. The damaged wall and sagging water stained ceiling tiles could have been a breeding area. Maybe there was rotting food or a decomposed animal corpse within the framework of the structure; I could tell by the large fly population in a confined area. There were numerous black specs on a sign that was hanging from the ceiling—that was fly shit. If that was all over the sign, imagine how much could have been in the food. Maybe the customers thought it was just pepper. House flies also regurgitate (known as vomit drop) when they feed to help out the digestion process. It is just another way they can pass along disease to an unsuspecting consumer. Pathogens like Salmonella Typhi, Giardia lamblia, Dysentery, and Campylobacter are carried on house flies’ legs, intestines, feces, feet, and exterior body and have been diagnosed to be transferred by the insect host to a food or food contact surface. The Porter’s closet where the slop sink and the mop and bucket storage area was located was infested with another species of fly known as drain flies. They were all over the walls and equipment. The broken floor tiles held dirty standing water and the wet mops were not properly hung to dry, thus creating a grand harborage area. Drain flies look different than fruit flies. Their wing spans differ; fruit flies tuck in their wings, where drain flies extend out, much like an airplane. From a food safety perspective, the specific species of fly infesting a food preparation area is important to identify in order to adequately combat the pest issue. Listeria monocytogenes, a deadly microorganism, can also live in floor drains, especially if they are not cleaned and treated, making the drain fly a possible

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vehicle for that bacterium to spread. Flies, regardless of the species, if found on a ready-to-eat food by a health inspector are deemed a “critical” or “priority” food safety issue. In some regulatory jurisdictions this can mean a hefty fine, bad letter grade (posted on the front door of the establishment), or a record in a newspaper or website as public information for all to see. The steps to the basement were slick and greasy. My efforts to be careful and tread lightly did not help. When you see your feet horizontally in front of you instead of vertically below you, you know you’re in trouble. After the second bounce, it was already concluded in my mind that this establishment was going to fail this inspection for health and safety. Even the slip resistant shoes I was wearing did not help. When I was airborne for that brief moment, I knew I was going to come down hard. A black and blue butt is not only painful—it’s also not the most flattering thing to look at in the shower. The basement walk-in cooler was running at too high of a temperature. It was near 53F, well within the FDA temperature danger zone of 41F-135F, perfect for slow and steady bacterial growth. Maybe if the dust laden fan unit was cleaned once a year, the cases of product were stored in a manner that promoted proper air circulation, and the broken door closed properly, the unit may have performed up to standard. Even that would have been tough to monitor because there was no working thermometer. The staff in this food service establishment was nice and they really took pride in what they did. Customer service, controlling food cost, and increasing sales were their main topics of discussion to me. It’s funny how operators always stress the positive aspects of a food service during an inspection, even if it has nothing to do with health and sanitation. However, the staff did not take much pride in cleaning and management avoided proper pest control and facility maintenance. These things were not on their priority list. When I stressed these deficiencies, the smiles turned upside down. I looked at my cell phone and my hour was up on the parking meter. I excused myself and jingled the quarters in my pocket to make sure I had enough. When I got to my car, there was a rather large man sitting on the hood holding a dog leash that was attached to a rather large pit bull. Instinctively, I kept my distance. He said, “Wassup homeboy, I figured I‘d do you a favor and watch your car.” “Why thank you”, I replied. “How long you gonna be?”

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he asked. “Oh, just a few more minutes”, I replied as I put four more quarters into the meter. For some strange reason, I didn’t feel scared or threatened, but I did feel a sudden sense of urgency. I went back in to the quick service restaurant and I raced through the rest of the audit. When I came out, large guy and his dog were still there. I reached in my wallet and gave him a five dollar bill as a tip for watching my car. Before I could ponder the thought of asking for a written receipt for my expense report for his services, his facial expression turned into agitated disbelief. He said “C’mon man, we in da Boogie down Bronx bro, you lucky your ride is even here.” I quickly switched the $5 bill for a $20 bill, thanked him, jumped into my car, and sped away, thinking about some of my past auditing experiences on the other side of the tracks and how lucky I really was to escape without incident.

ONSET TIME

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ften, a buddy of mine will tell me a story about how he got food poisoning; I hear lots of these because of my background in food safety. These shared experiences from family, friends, and sometimes complete strangers are personal, and they all have a common denominator of mystery. To hear my friend passionately describe his illness in detail was morbidly fascinating—he said that he was so sick; he had lain down on his wood floor in a fetal position as if he had been shot in the stomach, suffering abdominal pains after violently vomiting and repeated bouts of diarrhea. Believe it or not, as disgusting as it sounds, the type of diarrhea a person has can be a clue to what type of pathogen has been ingested when it comes to foodborne illness; bloody indicates E-Coli from contaminated undercooked beef, lettuce, or sprouts. Explosive means Cyclospora cayetanenis from contaminated water, leafy greens, or berries. Watery shows ingestion of Campylobactor jejuni from raw chicken, raw milk, or raw meat. My brother in law turned me on to an acronym called BRAT that you should remember to consume when you have bad diarrhea: B=Banana R=Rice A=Applesauce and T=Tea & Toast. These food products can help settle an upset stomach; however, I would recommend seeing a doctor if your diarrhea is bloody or persists for several days. The friend of mine who told me his food poisoning story felt so sick he had his cell phone in hand to dial 911 and even unlocked his

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front door, just so the cops or paramedics would not have to break the door down to rescue him. My friend swore up and down that he knew exactly what caused his near death experience –or did he? Most people I talk to have a misconception that it is always the last thing they ate that made them sick. More often than not, this is not the case. You cannot see, smell, or taste most harmful microorganisms, unless you are a gifted super hero. Even then, I would not bet the farm. You have to think about the individual ingredients, not the whole meal and how they could have been improperly handled. Let’s use potato salad as a common hypothetical example. You know, that batch your Aunt made for the family reunion summer picnic that sat out in the sun for an extended period of time. People would have a tendency to point the finger of blame at the mayonnaise if a foodborne illness occurred. However, commercially prepared mayonnaise has vinegar as one of the ingredients, making the product somewhat acidic. Bacteria do not like high acidity and do not grow well in those conditions. On the other hand, if those cooked potatoes were not cooled properly and then sat in the sun, they could be the culprit. But, who is to say that it was your Aunt’s potato salad causing the illness in the first place? Maybe it was your Uncle’s lack of handwashing after he used a bargain brand of toilet paper that jammed you up. You never know what got you sick unless all avenues are investigated and something is positively identified through lab results. Onset time is the period between where an individual first consumes a contaminated food to when symptoms of disease start to show up. A viral infection like Hepatitis A has a long onset time, sometimes seven weeks. Meaning, if you enjoyed a raw or lightly steamed clam that was from a contaminated shellfish bed, you may not start feeling the effects until almost two months after the fact. This is one of the reasons why retail supermarket seafood departments are required to hold on to shellfish tags for 90 days. Holding on to this documentation is necessary for tracing in case there is a foodborne illness outbreak involving those clams, mussels, or oysters. A bacterial intoxication like Staphylococcus aureus has a short onset time of one to six hours, sometimes even shorter if you have eaten degraded, thermally abused fish that has a naturally occurring toxin like Scombrotoxin in it; the onset time then is just a few minutes. This is when a chemical inherent to the fish called histadine breaks down into histamine, causing what some people

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phrase as “histamine poisoning”. Different symptoms will occur, including dizziness, shortness of breath, and hives. In this case, there will be no vomiting or diarrhea. Varying factors involving the victim can also cause a variation of onset time, such as health status, age, weight, and the amount of pathogen that was consumed. A lot of people have contracted a foodborne illness and don’t even realize it. They chalk it up as twenty-four hour flu. Depending on what was consumed, the victim, the symptoms, and onset time, you can only make an educated guess at what made you sick. Let’s return to the case of my friend’s foodborne illness story; he ate chicken with garlic sauce and rice at some spot on Amsterdam Avenue in New York City. Maybe my friend saw something negligent at this food establishment that made him think the location was the source of his food poisoning. Two distinct pathogens come to mind if you were to match up his symptoms (vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain) and what he ate. The “vomiting type” of Bacillus cereus, a bacterial intoxication or toxin mediated infection often found in improperly cooled rice, has a short onset time of 30 minutes to 6 hours. So if the rice he consumed was cooked, improperly cooled, and improperly re-heated, that could have been a possibility. The other possibility was Salmonella; a bacterial infection is commonly found in poultry and has a longer onset time of 6 to 48 hours. Now we also have to take into consideration the health of the food service worker that prepared my friends food. Was that person sick, working without gloves, or neglected to wash their hands after using the restroom? Or did the kitchen staff give the flashy, long-haired suburban boy who was not from the neighborhood a little something extra with his food, a bit of voodoo perhaps? Or was it something else that he ate that made him sick three days earlier? That is why it is so difficult to trace the source of a foodborne illness outbreak. Most people, like me, don’t remember what they consumed three days ago, let alone every ingredient involved. In the end, it all comes down to detailed detective work regarding food safety, science, the victims, food source and the almighty stool sample.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF FOODBORNE ILLNESS

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s long as mankind has walked the earth, there has been illness associated with food and water consumption. Regardless of the pathogen, odds are the cavemen got sick from something they ingested—some rotting, month old Wooly Mammoth perhaps? Even then, I’m positive there was some confusion as to where the illness came from, or maybe they knew but didn’t have a choice in the matter; perhaps it was either get sick or starve to death. From the beginning of recorded history, there have been some notable historical figures that have died from, been persecuted for, or transmitted a suspected foodborne illness. • Alexander the Great: The Macedonian Emperor in 323 BC came down with severe abdominal pains, chills, and fever. For years historians thought he was poisoned, a common form of murder for that time period. However, researchers at the University of Maryland concluded that he probably died of Salmonella typhi, a pathogen later termed as “Typhoid Fever”. • King Henry 1st of England: He died December 1st, 1135 from eating a “surfeit of lampreys”—blood sucking eels—which was consumed in ancient Rome, the Middle Ages, and even today in some cultures. Several species of river lampreys

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are known to be toxic and require thorough cleaning and cooking before consumption. Salem Witches of 1692: The population in Salem Massachusetts harvested rye as part of the grain for their food. Fungus grew on the rye called Claviceps purpurea, and it was in the “ergot” stage of this fungus that caused neurotransmission problems when it was consumed and digested. Headaches, burning sensation in the skin, spasms, convulsions and hallucinations helped to cause 140 people to be imprisoned and 19 hanged, all under the suspicion of witchcraft. Thomas Jefferson: The third President of the United States died July 4th, 1826 from exhaustion brought on by intense diarrhea and toxemia which caused a kidney infection. There were no sterile techniques back then, and a bacterium was introduced into his system. Before Jefferson passed away he exclaimed that he had “difficulty in making water”—the poor man could not take a piss and I am sure he suffered tremendously. Zachary Taylor: The twelfth President of the United States is thought to have died of heat exhaustion and possibly the picnic food he ate that was infected with Salmonella and other pathogens at the ground breaking ceremony for the Washington Monument. The English Settlers of Jamestown Virginia: Some historians believe that Typhoid Fever killed over 6,000 settlers between 1607 and 1624. The land they inhabited was swampy, nestled in a small area that was not conducive to growing crops with brackish water unfit for drinking. It was not just the Native Americans and mosquitoes that caused the death of all those settlers. Mary Mallon: She was the infamous “Typhoid Mary”. In 1907, she was the first person in the U.S to be diagnosed and a carrier of the disease called Salmonella typhi. Mallon was a cook in New York and was implicated and prosecuted in transferring the pathogen in 53 cases and causing the death of 3 people. Wilbur Wright: The co-inventor of the airplane was born April 16th, 1867. He died at age 45 from Typhoid fever. He had chills from the high fever which peaked at 106F. Wright thought before he died that his illness came on from fish he had eaten at a Boston hotel while on a business trip. We will

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never know if his speculation was correct. Pathogenic bacteria cannot be seen by the naked eye, you cannot visibly tell that a food is contaminated. It was not until 1660 that a Dutch cloth merchant named Anton van Leeuwenhock started his quest to make a better magnifying lens to inspect the threading and weaves of clothing. The glass grinding he did lead to detailed magnifications. Why he decided one day to look at a sample of pond water is still a mystery, but when he did, he saw many living organisms. Perhaps the water was stagnant and visible mosquito larvae were present, prompting him to observe further. The idea of the microscope was in its infancy. Unfortunately, it took until the 1870’s to conclude that some of the bacteria he first saw could cause disease. Many people found out the hard way. A foodborne illness outbreak is when two or more individuals get sick after eating the same food. As time goes on, different foods have been associated with causing illness. As pathogens change or “emerge”, more items become susceptible to contamination. Years ago, no one would have ever considered a Listeria infection in cantaloupes, yet we are now acutely aware after a devastating outbreak in 2011. Media attention and social networking have driven these outbreaks to increased public awareness. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has only been tracking foodborne illness outbreaks since the 1970’s. So, it is not out of the realm of possibility that an unreported incident may have slipped through the cracks before that time. Remember, most people that have a foodborne illness don’t seek medical attention or think that is another ailment and it never gets reported. Food safety has improved over time with advance science, ways to detect disease, equipment, policy, procedure, and food handling. However, outbreaks continue to plague the industry and do not show signs of ending any time soon. As long as there is negligence in food safety, lack of training, and the chance to cut corners to make a higher profit, this trend will continue. Listed below are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most lethal known foodborne illness outbreaks with the highest death toll in the recorded history of the United States: • Raw Milk (1911 Boston): 48 dead, 2,000 ill by Streptococcus in raw (unpasteurized) milk. Citizens thought they were suffering from “Septic Sore Throat”. • Canned Olives (1919 California): 19 deaths from

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Botulism, unknown number of illnesses leads to changes in canning methods. Raw Milk (1922 Portland, Oregon): 22 deaths, 487 ill from Streptococcus in raw milk. The same outbreak 11 years earlier had fewer victims, but the repeated disaster finally pushed legislation. US Public Health Services requires pasteurization in 1924. Oysters (1924-1925 New York City): 150 dead, 1,500 sickened by Typhoid from raw oysters. Harvested oysters were stored below the city’s dripping sewage lines and shipped by train across the country. Mexican Cheese (1985 Los Angeles): 52 deaths plus 19 miscarriages and 10 infant deaths by Listeria. Pregnant women and their unborn babies were the primary victims. Listeria monocytogenes has a death rate of approximately 30%. Frankfurters/Hot Dogs (1998 U.S 24 States): 21 deaths, 100 hospitalized from Listeria. Demolition in a meat processing plant leads to environmental contamination. Deli Meats (2002 U.S 3 States): 7 deaths, 3 still births, and 46 sickened by Listeria. Contaminated processed chicken was traced back to a manufacturing plant. Bagged Spinach (2006 U.S 22 States): 3 deaths and 198 sickened from E-coli 0157:H7. Confusion from where the illness originates helps create required Country of Origin labeling on produce. Peanut Butter and Paste (2008-2009 U.S 46 States and Canada): 9 deaths, 22,500 sickened from Salmonella typhimurium. Contamination in a processing facility potentially by rodent infestation. Company executives knowingly sent adulterated products to their customers. Cantaloupes (2011 U.S 28 States): 33 deaths plus one miscarriage, 146 plus sickened by Listeria. Improper handling, cross contamination, and improper storage practices led to the recall of over 1.5 million cantaloupes.

More recent outbreaks in 2015 have included ice cream (3 dead from Listeria), cucumbers (4 dead from Salmonella) and caramel apples (7 dead from Listeria). The scariest part about this list is that it could change tomorrow.

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Proper food safety from the farm to the manufacturing and processing plant to a retail food establishment and at home is paramount to the protection of consumer’s health. In some circumstances, it took the loss of life to change how food is safely handled.

STINKY FINGER

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hen doing a food safety inspection in a seafood department of a grocery store, there are many items in the display area to inspect. Sometimes violations are obvious; others can be hidden until personal interaction brings it to life. On this particular occasion, I was looking at Country of Origin labeling, any possibility of thermal abuse or cross-contamination, out of code products, working case thermometers, products stored above display case load lines, general sanitation, evidence of pest infestation, and proper ingredient labels. The manager who worked in the seafood department saw me peeking around and approached from behind the service counter. He was a nice guy and I had dealt with him before on several occasions. I firmly shook his hand and talked with him a bit. A casual conversation ensued and I began to ask him the usual questions. How are you? How are the kids? How is the refrigeration working? Do you have ample hot water? Are your cutting boards in good shape? So on and so forth. Subtle professional probing can reveal issues. Sometimes after building a positive rapport the flow of information comes easy. An interrogation, on the other hand, is a turn off and can make people put up a defensive wall. The seafood manager and I started walking back to the prep area to take a look at the rest of his department. I reached to my shirt breast pocket to take out my pen to record any health violations on my note pad. When I did, I got a vicious waft of fish smell up my nose. Perplexed, I sniffed my right hand like a dog investigating a fire hydrant. If I had a tail it would have stopped wag-

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ging. My fingers smelled really badly. Then it dawned on me—the only way my hand could smell that way was if there was a residue transfer during my handshake with the seafood manager. I didn’t just come off the fishing party boat smelling like bait, beer, and fish. At this point in time he was looking at me kind of funny because I was sniffing my hand and looking at him as though he’d committed a crime. I said to him “My man, my hand stinks like fish, did you give me stinky finger?” He blushed like a cartoon character, “Nooo…not me,” he replied. “Yes you did,” I said. That’s when I swiped him east and west under his nose with my middle and index fingers, impressed when he didn’t move. The offender definitely got a good whiff of that fishy smell because homeboy’s eyes got all big and his eyebrows lifted sharply, like he was watching a scary movie. He was surprised at my quick maneuver and I think the speed of my reaction made him want to admit to stinking up my fingers. All the evidence clearly pointed in his direction. After a few seconds of denial, he sniffed his own pinky and nodded his head in agreement; he was guilty. The first thing I made him do was thoroughly wash his hands, after I thoroughly washed my own. I did not want every pussycat in the neighborhood to follow me home. Then I took out my soap box, stood tall on top of it, and proceeded to lecture him about proper hand washing and glove use. It wasn’t the Gettysburg Address, but I got my point across. Think about it—if the oils and fluid from the seafood manager’s fishy hands infected my hands that quickly from a brief handshake, just think how easily viral microorganisms can be transferred by the same process. Viruses are the leading agent of foodborne illness (Norovirus is tops the list), are very small, need a living host to multiply, need few viral particles to cause illness, and can be transferred very easily through food, a contaminated surface, or people. Remember that a virus can survive on a doorknob; it does not necessarily take hazardous food to deliver an infection. A viral infection can potentially survive the freezing process and deliver illness. Turkish pomegranate seeds may sound exotic, but if the fruit is handled by a person who is infected with Hepatitis A (a pathogen with a very long onset time), frozen, mixed with other berries, imported, sold, defrosted, then consumed, you’ll have a real-life foodborne illness outbreak. People that are diagnosed with a virus should not be handling food, or shaking anyone’s hand for that matter. Having the abil-

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ity to transmit aerobically (bioaerosol) can cause an outbreak to spread like wildfire, especially in enclosed areas. That’s why cruise ships and college dormitories are so susceptible to Norovirus. It is not out of the realm of possibility that a viral infection can travel through an air ventilation system, especially if the return ducts recycle air from location to location and are not cleaned and sanitized properly. Always properly wash hands for at least twenty seconds whenever they become contaminated, before and after preparing food, and when changing gloves. Gloves need to be changed whenever they become contaminated or torn; they are like skin, able to harbor germs and must be discarded properly. It is not the most sanitary thing when you see a piece of vinyl glove in someone’s sandwich or baked into a cake. Handling raw animal proteins, garbage, chemicals, equipment, and cleaning materials are all instances where someone should spend ample time at a hand sink. Sing “Happy Birthday” at least twice. There are a lot of surfaces that we touch unknowingly that can cause a transfer of microorganisms. Hand sanitizers should never be substituted for handwashing. It is the friction in the process that reduces the level of microorganisms during proper handwashing. If you knew that at least 80% of all disease is caused by touch, you would be more careful of who and what you are touching and taking the necessary steps to avoid contamination.

ILT

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previous client of mine ran a corporate cafeteria for a wellknown, successful company. They were a heavily subsidized operation and always had everything needed to produce the finest food, as well as offer the company employees drastically discounted prices One day, I went for my monthly food safety inspection. I enjoyed going there; it was very clean, well run, and a pleasant environment to be in. Right away, I knew that something was wrong on this visit; it looked like half of the staff was missing from the usually busy kitchen. The normally upbeat executive chef approached me shaking his head in dismay. He said, “Good morning Dave, let’s get this audit started, I’m very short handed with staff today and I have to get caught up.” I understood; within a couple of hours he would be responsible for feeding close to 1,200 people for lunch. When I shook his hand and looked at his face, I noticed that his eyes were bright red. I asked, “Are you OK? Looks like you either had a really rough night or your allergies are bothering you.” The chef said, “No, neither of those things, let me tell you what happened.” At my last food safety inspection at this location, I had noticed that several of the ILT (insect light trap) bulbs were out. They were either burnt out or inoperable. I asked the chef to get them replaced. The food service had a known fruit fly issue and by having non-working insect light trap bulbs, it could be cited as a noncritical violation by some health departments. The executive chef,

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wanting to do the right thing and being unsure whose responsibility it was, called both the pest control operator (who owned the traps) and the building facilities maintenance department asking to get the situation rectified. The next day when the kitchen staff was preparing food, they noticed how unusually bright it was in the prep areas. Two hours went by and several of the cooks came to the chef complaining that their eyes hurt and they had massive headaches. The chef himself even felt the same symptoms. He realized then that it was the extremely illuminant insect light trap bulbs that seemed to be the problem. They quickly yanked all the plugs on the traps that were hung on the walls around the large kitchen area. The chef called the facilities maintenance department to look at some of the bulbs in the ILT’s. As it turns out, they were the wrong kind. The highresolution bulbs that were in the ILT’s were the kind used in tanning salon beds. The eyes of the staff were actually getting cooked as they worked in the kitchen. Eight staff members had gone to the hospital emergency room. According to my brother-in-law, who is an eye retina specialist, prolonged exposure could have led to permanent retinal damage from light toxicity. Fortunately, the light source was several feet away so the damage was not as intense as it could have been. The blame for this episode was constantly being laid back and forth from the pest control company to the building’s facilities maintenance department. Neither of them would own up to the mistake for fear of a liability issue. The food service ended up going to the security department to review the footage from the kitchen cameras to figure out who the culprit was that put in the wrong bulbs. Mysteriously, the video had disappeared for the evening in question. Now to me, that implicates the facilities maintenance department. Someone was covering up for someone else who worked at that premises. The individuals who suffered injury were quietly silenced by the contracted food service company they worked for. “At will” employment means just that; if the issue is held over your head at the risk of losing the ability to provide for your family, you make that decision to keep your mouth shut. Unfortunately, the almighty dollar played an important part of this resolution. The food service did not want to risk losing their multi-million dollar contract over a law suit or negative publicity.

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Corporate America, in some circumstances, has the ability to steam roll the little guy when push comes to shove. Insect light traps work well to help reduce fly populations if used correctly. They should be left on at night when other lights are turned off; this is when they are most effective at attracting any flying insects. Electrocution style Zap traps should only be used outdoors and away from food and food contact surfaces, for exploding fly pieces can potentially cause contamination and should not be an ingredient in exposed food. Foot candles are measurements of light intensity, where lighting is equal to one foot from a light source; I’m sure the bulbs that burned those individuals’ eyes were off the charts. The higher the foot candle number, the brighter the illumination. A well lit production and storage area makes an employee more productive, able to see unclean areas, handle potentially hazardous foods and make the work environment safer. The FDA Food Code recommends the following for these areas: • • • • • • •

10 foot candles at a distance of 30” above the floor Walk-in refrigerators Dry food storage 20 foot candles at a distance of 30” above the floor Hand washing and dish washing areas Where produce and packaged goods are offered for sale Restrooms Equipment storage areas 50 foot candles at the work surface When employees are working with dangerous equipment where safety is a big concern and potentially hazardous foods

Lights above exposed food need to be shielded or coated to make them shatter proof so if the glass breaks; it will not become a physical hazard in food. I got a better understanding of this when I once witnessed a piece of glass from a shattered light bulb get baked into a bagel. Proper lighting is essential in a food service establishment and it should never be a detriment to employee or consumer safety.

AN UNSUSPECTING VICTIM

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hen I came home from work one evening, I found my beloved Black Labrador Retriever, Romeo, cowering on the floor under the kitchen table. The poor animal was shaking, whining, and lying in his own vomit and feces. At the time, he was a healthy three-year-old and had no negative medical history. I was alarmed, shocked, panicked, and I did everything to comfort the dog. When I called my wife to tell her, she was just as concerned as I was and immediately rushed home. We took Romeo to the veterinarian for emergency treatment. The vet gave him a thorough examination and several tests; he recommended that Romeo spend the night for observation. It broke my heart to leave him there. The nervous, sad look in his eyes told us that he was confused and in pain. That was about all my wife and I could take; we both broke down and cried. We had to gather our composure to assure ourselves that he would pull through and that Romeo would be in the best possible care. The only thing we could do was

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pray for our four-legged son. The next day when we picked Romeo up, his neck was shaved where the IV tubes were inserted for hydration. He moved very slowly from exhaustion. The vetenarian had not come up with an immediate diagnosis. We waited a week for the test results from the blood and stool samples and kept up his prescribed medications religiously. My wife and I watched over him like angels and kept him as comfortable as possible. When the tests came back there was no explanation for his mysterious illness—the vet still had no idea. After a week, the dog gradually started to show signs of progress and getting back to normal. My wife and I were just as baffled as the vet. We did everything by the book and went above and beyond as responsible pet owners. Two days later, the pet food recalls started to happen. I first read about it in Food Safety News. It was Salmonella that was poisoning dogs, not only in the dog food, but in dog treats as well. That got me pissed off and corroborated my personal crusade in discussing why food safety is so important. It’s not only humans—now it’s a danger to people’s pets as well. How could this happen? Was my best friend an unsuspecting victim? At the time, Salmonella was only a typical problem in food consumed by humans and not a widespread issue in pet food. The outbreak intensified and hundreds of beloved pets across the country became ill or even died. Then, as fate would have it, the people who owned those dogs handled the contaminated dog food, and did not wash their hands and started to get sick with the same strain of Salmonella. Salmonella causes diarrhea, vomiting, cramps, and sometimes fever—yes, even in dogs. It has an onset time of six hours to two days before the symptoms begin to show. Eggs, milk, raw poultry, raw meats, and people who are already sick with the infection are all vehicles of Salmonella. The most common transmission to food is through cross-contamination. After our disheartening food poisoning experience with Romeo and the $700 vet bill, we changed his diet all together. No more canned dog food, just a reputable dry brand with a mix of fresh cooked chicken, fish, or beef. We gave him raw carrots and other healthy alternatives to the dried chicken treats from China. I even make sure to wash my hands before and after I feed our dog. We also started to pay closer attention to our dog’s hygiene, including intense teeth brushing (which he loves) on a more consistent basis. I also clean his feet if he has been in a field filled with goose poop or has walked on salt covered roadways during winter. The last thing

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I need is for him to lick or track that potentially E-coli laden goose shit all over the house. Romeo’s dishes also get properly washed, rinsed, and sanitized. I now keep tabs on any contaminated pet food products that get recalled as well. I’m not going through that scenario again. As a matter of fact, an e-mail I got four years after Romeo’s illness implicated his present brand of dry dog food as possibly being infected with Salmonella. It was a Class II recall, where the product was recalled by the manufacturer for it having the potential to be contaminated. I had emptied out his large original bag of dry food into a plastic food container, like most dog owners. I had no way of making sure the UPC code on the bag matched the product that was being recalled. I flipped out and felt extremely vulnerable. I called the company and to my great relief Romeo’s food was not the specific batch that was possibly adulterated. The pack size and processing date of the product in question did not match what I had bought for Romeo. The two things I was grateful for was the fact that the company did the right thing through disclosure of the issue and the speed of the notification. People need to pay special attention to their pets. Contamination can find its way into their food supply chain as well. Pet owners need to be more vigilant and aware of potential issues with health and sanitation.

CRUNCHY

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ome people just love to shop, especially around the holidays. When they are shopping, they get hungry and decide to eat, never thinking about any underlying secrets in where they choose to dine. One day I went to do a food safety inspection in a mall restaurant. As I have said before, if your food service establishment is in a mall, you have no control over your neighbor’s sanitation practices and the potential for unwanted visitors. Insects and rodents can travel in and on pipes, electrical conduits, through vents and common walls, or even hitch a ride on the maintenance elevator, especially with a food or paper product delivery. This mall location had a trifecta of pest problems for years; flies of three different species (house, drain, and fruit), mice, and two varieties of cockroaches. With all the creatures inhabiting that place, I think even Chubacabra lived in the storage closet. This operation could never seem to get a handle on resolving the insect and rodent issues. They tried everything and spent a boat-load of money in the process to no avail. What management failed to realize and react to (even after reported suggestions) was to keep the place clean, fix maintenance issues and entry points, and eliminate standing water. On the day of this food safety audit, I got there very early in the morning; it just so happened that the pest control company had been there the prior evening to spray a chemical treatment in hopes of eradicating the vermin problem. In doing that, they exposed a little something that turned out to be a lot of something.

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I always had an idea of the extent of the cockroach issue, but it was nothing compared to what I witnessed that morning. In the twenty-five plus years I have worked in the industry as an inspector or an operator, I had never personally seen such alarming evidence of infestation. A swarm of roaches in an ice machine was the horrifying extent of my exposure up to that point. When I say that there were dead and dying cockroaches everywhere, I mean everywhere. They were on shelving, silverware, equipment, in the food (the croutons and cookies in particular looked tasty with cockroach casualties embedded in them), in coffee pots, glassware, on the keyboard of the computer in the manager’s office, and, of course, all over the floor. Despite usually thriving in warm, humid places, they were even on the floor of the walk-in freezer. The instinct to escape the pesticide may have forced them to take refuge in this area, or they could have been living in the insulation behind the wall panels. The dirty standing water in the broken kitchen floor tiles coupled with the thick grease build-up on the wall behind the fryer, the moldy piece of pepper, and the rotting raw chicken on the floor hidden under a prep table did not help the issue. When I walked into the dimly lit bar area, I heard a loud crunch as I stepped forward. I stopped, stood still, listened for a potential Chubacabra attack, brandishing my flashlight to figure out what I was stepping on. At first, I hoped it might have been spilled peanuts or pretzels—but no. The beam of light revealed it was dead cockroaches; a few of them were massive. Some Oriental roaches from the untreated floor drain got rather large feasting on slime and decay. The German cockroaches were everywhere; they were smaller and greater in numbers. They also are the most common roach found in food service establishments. At that point, I was so disgusted; I asked management for some type of explanation for what I was witnessing. Even more disturbing, they had none; they were just as perplexed as I was. How could they not know? They work in that place morning, noon, and night, probably spending more time in there than in their own homes. With the sheer volume of insects, they should have heard them walking in the walls. At the end of my audit, I made a few phone calls to express my concerns. I got the feeling that those individuals I spoke to thought I was exaggerating—that is, until they got the pictures I took with my phone. Then they were quiet from the embarrassment, shock, and awe.

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I thoroughly checked my bag and coat before departing the restaurant to see if anything had crawled in, never trusting hitchhikers. A large majority of cockroach and bed bug issues in food service establishments are actually caused by employees bringing them in from their own homes. The last thing I did before I got in my car after the inspection was throw away my shoes in the garbage can of the parking garage. It may be an urban myth about stepping on a pregnant female cockroach and having the eggs stick to the bottom of your shoes, but I sure as hell was not going to take the chance of bringing back any cockroach funk to my house. I drove home in my socks in the middle of winter. As it turns out, that myth is false; the egg sack on a pregnant female roach would be sufficiently crushed if stepped on. Some species could have 30-40 eggs in that sack and may hide them in elevated areas. The insect doesn’t have such good intentions as the Easter Bunny. However, the bacteria inside the roach would remain on the bottom of the sole of your shoe once stepped on. Salmonella could be tagging along, something you don’t want to spread around on the living room carpet, especially if you have a baby, dog, or for your own general health for that matter. Roaches also shed their skin, and if there is enough of it around, it could actually cause asthma in children. Did you know that some species of female cockroaches mate only once, but stay pregnant for life? Talk about sustaining a population. Cockroaches have been around since the prehistoric ages; they can survive without water for up to two weeks, can eat almost anything organic—soap, gum, grease, wax, and even glue—and they can live headless for up to a week! Now that you are an expert and ready to start your next career in entomology, just make sure you understand the basic premise that cockroaches spread disease and do not belong in or around food. Proper sanitation is key to eliminating pest control issues. Food debris and a comfortable harborage area will sustain a population for a long period of time, then reproduction will occur and the vicious cycle of infestation will never be broken. All pest issues must be aggressively monitored and treated by everyone involved. If left unattended for any length of time, the problem could compound itself exponentially.

FUNDS

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oney and food safety really do go hand in hand. You need one to have the other. Food safety is not just about protecting the public from contracting foodborne illnesses; it’s also about protecting the establishment and reducing liability. If sales go south in a food service establishment, one of the first things an operator will do to save money is cut labor hours. They force employees to multi-task, sometimes excessively. When this labor reduction happens, customer service drops off, accidents increase, employee morale becomes a problem, and sanitation is pushed to the wayside. People start looking for shortcuts, and when they do that, food safety is compromised. When I look at the current state of our government on food safety, I see the need for change as well as everyone else; however, there is no cash to support the initiative. Cutbacks and thin budgets have reduced government-sponsored programs that would help protect our vast food supply chain. The Food and Drug Administration, Department of Agriculture, and Local, City, and State Regulators all seem to be getting the short end of the stick. Fewer inspectors mean fewer inspections. Fewer inspections mean an increased risk of a foodborne illness outbreak. With the Centers for Disease Control estimating that one in six Americans contract a foodborne illness each year (and that is only the reported cases), can we really afford fewer inspections? How about imported food that comes into the United States? It is estimated that only 2% of those products get inspected! (And that’s only the number the Feds know about; they can’t get every speedboat, twin prop plane, and

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tunnel coming into the U.S). Just because food says, “Packaged in the United States” does not necessarily mean the actual product is from the United States. Many are outsourced from other countries; some have standardized food safety policies and procedures and some don’t. The responsibility of food safety is getting increasingly shifted to the private sector of the food industry policing themselves. Since it is the food companies that will suffer the most through lawsuits and loss of sales, it makes sense that they should foot the bill when it comes to consumer health protection. However, without proper government oversight and regulation, some individuals in the industry will try to skate by with doing as little as possible. For example, the $30,000 new floor in a processing facility might get put on hold; it would have to wait, and wait, and wait until someone decided to write that enormous check. Water would stand and harbor dangerous pathogenic bacteria in the old floor (especially if we are talking about foods like raw animal proteins or produce that grows on the ground) because it is not easily cleanable and can be a source of disease transfer. Listeria is the first microorganism that comes to mind, and it has been this exact condition of a damaged floor that has attributed to a past foodborne illness outbreak. No food service operator, processor, or manufacturer would want to spend the money if they don’t have to, but if a Regulatory Agency demands it with a heavy repercussion—that’s when people will finally listen and react. Then there are the individuals out there who will risk consumer’s health and well-being just to make a higher profit or avoid a financial loss. A true example of this would be to knowingly sell contaminated peanuts and peanut paste that is infected with Salmonella at a bargain price. That is criminal. Claims of foodborne illness are one of the biggest financial risks in the food industry. Having enough insurance coverage is another aspect of the business that should not be taken for granted. Executives should look hard at the fine print when it comes to purchasing Commercial General Liability insurance. Policy language may or may not include gaps, which can be the difference between being covered or not. The one thing everyone should be concerned about covering is their ass. Standard exclusions in policies for mold, bacteria, and contaminants may be worded in such a manner that coverage may be denied in a foodborne illness outbreak. I would rather find out that bomb shell sooner rather than later and avoid the costly litiga-

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tion. If your company in the food industry is responsible for getting people sick to the point that they suffer permanent health issues for the rest of their lives, the coverage better be more than adequate, because everyone from the grower, processor, manufacturer, third party consultants, to the retail food outlet will be implicated in a law suit. There will be no rock big enough for everyone to hide under. Killing someone through a foodborne illness is traumatic and horrible; however, there might only be a onetime insurance payout to the family. A prolonged illness that causes injury to the kidney or brain that requires a possible transplant and ongoing medical care will require a lot of money and a lot of insurance coverage. Adequate funds need to be in the budget, profit and loss statement, insurance plan, and having enough or lack thereof, really does affect food safety in so many different ways.

CROSS-CONTAMINATION

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stopped at a busy food market one day for lunch. While waiting in line, I naturally looked around to see what was going on. As someone who teaches and inspects for food safety, I am a creature of habit; like an owl, my head rotates 360 degrees to view everything. From my vantage point, I started to notice a few concerning things, the first of which being blatantly noticeable—none of the employees seemed happy. Smiles were nonexistent, and the negative facial expressions told the tale. In my years in the industry, I know that when morale drops, so does food safety and sanitation practices, not to mention customer service and sales. There was no noticeable management supervision. No one was in charge or giving any type of direction; maybe that’s why everyone was unhappy. The service area looked like a chicken coop. Employees were walking back and forth in a birdlike fashion, accomplishing very little. Productivity was merely pecked at. The dining area looked filthy, debris littered the floor, and the wall I was standing next to had dried food splatter that was in an aged, encrusted state. If I had a scratch and sniff on the wall, gravy would have been my guess. The display case in front of the counter had a thermometer that read 52F—perfect ambient temperature for those wilted discolored salads that were in the unit. Hair restraints were not being worn and the staff’s uniforms were dirty. One employee looked like she might have even rolled around in the chicken coop; even her back was stained and filthy. How the hell did that happen? I can only guess. The ceiling vent was dust laden, as were the

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fake plastic flowers next to the register. No one had cleaned those areas in months. Sometimes when I was inspecting a food service that had a lot of dust build-up, I would write my initials in the dust, kind of like when someone writes “clean me” on the back of a dirty delivery truck. If my identifiable letters “DW” were there on a follow up visit months after the branding, I would know that a lack of basic cleaning was a problem. The line eventually moved along and it was my turn to order— a turkey sandwich. When the staff member working the counter turned around and gave my order to the guy who was placing a whole raw chicken skewered on spits into the rotisserie oven, you bet your ass I did not take my eyes off that guy. After the employee finished handling the raw poultry, he immediately grabbed a roll from a bin to make my sandwich. He didn’t change his gloves or even wash his hands for that matter. That was a definite cause for concern. I shouted to him, “My man, is that my sandwich?” He looked at me stunned like he just got caught stealing and nodded yes. “You didn’t change your gloves or wash your hands after you put that raw chicken into the oven.” The dumbfounded look on his face had guilt written all over it. Even after I said something, he just stood there like a deer caught in headlights. There was no reaction and I got the distinct feeling that he had no idea about the crosscontamination he committed. “Cancel my order, you fools are going to make someone sick.” I stated in a loud voice. I stormed out of the place and was pleased to see that the couple behind me also followed suit and left the market as well. Campylobactor jejuni is the second most frequently reported case of foodborne illness in the United States at this time, according to the Department of Agriculture. It comes from the intestinal tract of animals such as cats, dogs, and cattle, and it is reported to be on almost 70% of raw chicken. It’s not just a Salmonella concern anymore. Speaking of chicken, did you know about the HAACP Based Inspection Model Project? Presently, this project is on the Government’s discussion table to be implemented nationwide. The plan is to cut back on federal inspectors at poultry processing plants and increase the line speed from 140 birds per minute to 175 birds per minute. That’s something like inspecting one whole chicken every third of a second. As an inspector in a poultry processing plant, you would need eyes that could see into the future to keep up with the birds that come flying by you at such a high rate of speed.

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How can anyone properly assess a carcass for cleaning or fecal material in that short amount of time? No wonder there is such a heavy bacterial load on raw chicken. The symptoms of Campylobactor usually have an onset time of 2-10 days and causes fever, abdominal cramps, and, yes, severe bloody diarrhea. Seeking medical attention is strongly recommended. Approximately 100 people each year actually die from this pathogen; that mortality rate may be low, but millions of people get sick each year. Cross-contamination control is key in eliminating the spread of this foodborne infection. Proper handling and storage of raw meats and poultry, proper cleaning and sanitizing of food contact surfaces, and proper handwashing are all preventive measures in spreading this pathogen. Here are some recommendations and observations: Proper Handling of Raw Animal Proteins Be careful where that fluid drips, splashes, and gets wiped. I’ve seen people handle these foods in a manner that concerns me because they are negligent. They wash raw chicken in a sink (which they should not do in the first place) like they were splashing around in a pool on a hot summer day next clean utensils stored on the drain board, don’t clean and sanitize a sink after trimming raw beef—then washing salad greens in the same sink. I’ve seen dripping blood and other animal byproducts on the floor during preparation, not cleaning it up, and walking through the contaminant and spreading it all around the establishment. Some wipe the raw animal juices on their apron or get it on the sleeves of a chef’s jacket, then make a ready-to-eat sandwich. Proper Storage of Raw Animal Proteins Make sure to store these foods properly. Always use final internal cooking temperatures as a guide to properly store these products on a rack in the refrigerator. The food with the highest internal cooking temperature should be on the bottom; that’s usually poultry at 165F. Fish and pork are 145F and ground beef is 155F according to the FDA Food Code. Ready-to-eat items should always be on top. The thought behind that is if the product drips on to another, the cooking process would effectively reduce the bacterial load. If you had raw ground meat stored over raw fish and if

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it dripped, cooking that fish to 145F may not kill something like E-coli or Salmonella that could be present in the beef. Proper Cleaning and Sanitizing of Food Contact Surfaces Cutting boards and knives immediately come to mind when discussing surfaces that directly touch food. After preparing food, contact surfaces should be cleaned, sanitized, and air-dried properly, not with just a wipe and a prayer. If the equipment surfaces are chipped, cracked, excessively scored, rusted, or compromised in any way, they should be replaced; they could be a bacterial harborage area or physical hazard if a damaged piece of equipment finds its way into food. Proper Hand Washing I’ve said it before and I will say it again—it’s imperative. Don’t just do it because someone is watching you; do it because it is the right thing to do to protect yourself and others. Cross-contamination can happen very quickly and in a variety of ways. In some cases, food handlers don’t even realize it, which is why they should take the time to focus on the task, think outside the box, and realize the potential consequences of their actions.

NOROVIRUS

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nce, at a hotel banquet function, there was a Norovirus outbreak that sickened hundreds of people—four times at four separate events over a two-day period. The exact source of the contamination still remains a mystery. Sounds crazy, right? How can that happen, and who is responsible? Let us first review the specifics about the disease. Cruise ships, college dormitories, and schools have been prime locations of past Norovirus outbreaks. A confined area acts as a common denominator, helping the virus to transmit easily. If the viral infection hits an area that has people with compromised immune systems, such as a nursing home, the problem can be compounded and become deadly. Here are some facts regarding Norovirus: • It is a viral infection that has an onset time of one to two days; the illness can last one to three days. • It is the number one agent of foodborne and waterborne illness in the United States. • Viruses require a living host to multiply; they do not replicate in food and can survive on an environmental surface such as a phone. • Only a few viral particles can cause illness. • Norovirus can be transferred from person to person very

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easily (especially through the air in an enclosed area), from a person to a food, from one food to another, or from contaminated water. • Controlling the spread of Norovirus is achieved through proper handwashing, eliminating bare hand contact with ready-to-eat foods, use of potable water, cooking food to adequate temperatures, buying shellfish from reputable sources, proper separation of raw and ready-to-eat foods to avoid cross contamination, and, most importantly, exclusion of infected food workers from preparing or serving food. With that being said, it is very difficult to investigate the source of any foodborne illness outbreak. In the hotel case, the victim’s stool samples revealed what disease it was. Onset time, symptoms, health status, type of food, location, and how many people infected all have to be taken into consideration when looking for a root cause of illness. Remember, it is not always the last thing you consumed that gave you food poisoning. Did a food service worker infected with Norovirus prepare or serve food at the hotel? Was that individual a hotel employee or did the hotel use a contracted staffing agency to help cater the suspected event? Either way, people who are diagnosed with one of “The Big 6 Pathogens” (Hepatitis A, E-coli, Shigella, Salmonella typhi/non-typhoidal, or Norovirus) should not be handling food. Was anyone in the hotel kitchen privy to someone running to the bathroom every five minutes to vomit or paint the toilet bowl with explosive diarrhea? Did anyone complain of stomach pains and headache? Those are all obvious tell-tale symptoms. In every single kitchen I have worked in, if this happens, everyone knows. The evidence speaks for itself. I also hope that the health inspectors took a hard look at the food as well. Where did it come from? Norovirus has been documented to survive the freezing process in food. Frozen mussel meat from Korea and frozen strawberries from China have gotten innocent people, including school children, sick from thousands of miles away. Another viral infection, Hepatitis A, was found in a frozen organic berry mix. The investigation in that case implicated frozen organic pomegranate seeds from Turkey as the source of the outbreak. Some sick individual infected that hard-to-process fruit

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with diseased fingers and pure negligence. For a few of you nonbelievers out there, just because something is labeled “organic” and costs more doesn’t mean that it cannot cause illness. Yes, maybe there is less use of chemicals or pesticides. However, you can never eliminate the human element in food production, regardless of the product that is being processed. Pathogenic microorganisms do not discriminate. The epidemiological investigation at the hotel ended without a direct source. It would have been interesting to see how this situation was caused and what was implicated. The case went cold. Who knows—maybe it was a sick guest that started the outbreak. Hopefully foodservice establishments and the local regulatory agency can learn a valuable lesson from what happened and take precautionary measures when it comes to health and handling food safely. The clues to resolution are difficult in resolving some foodborne illness outbreaks.

BURGERS, BEER AND CAMPYLOBACTER

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utdoor food festivals are popular events that attract millions of patrons each year in the United States. One was held in the county I live in one weekend in June. It was hot, packed with people, and the cooks were in a rush to accommodate the masses. When that uncontrolled urgency happens, the risk of problems associated with health and sanitation increases. Unfortunately, several people who attended fell ill with Campylobacter jejuni, a foodborne illness infection. This disease is usually transmitted through improper cooking or cross-contamination with raw poultry or infected food workers, as well as other avenues of adulteration. As a person who enjoys both burgers and beer, I was fortunate that I did not attend and fall victim to food poisoning. Using a year’s worth of sick days in a week would have sucked. It intrigued me as a food safety practitioner; after I saw the local news report, I wondered if there was any oversite by the county health department or another heath sanitarian that may have been contracted by the event organizers to make sure the food at the festival was safe. I asked my local town supervisor and he in turn asked the county health department to respond to my question, to which they responded in a press release statement which I had not seen up until that point in time. It basically described

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Campylobacter symptoms and what causes the illness, suggesting that if you were still vomiting and had diarrhea, you should see a doctor—no shit, Sherlock. I would think that most people didn’t need that advice, especially if any bloody diarrhea was involved. Then the press release went on to say how county health sanitarians were going to review food safety practices with all the vendors that were involved in the event. Really? Isn’t that just a bit after the fact and a knee-jerk reaction to covering what should have been done at the event? How do the affected consumers know that this actually took place? As the old saying goes, if it wasn’t documented, it didn’t happen. The health department did not answer my query; they danced around it, and so I replied to them in writing with these other questions: • Was there a documented report by a health sanitarian at the event? • Were thermometers used and checked for calibration? • Were temperature logs used and recorded? • Was there a consumer advisory stating that consuming undercooked ground beef could cause illness? • Were any of the cooks certified in food safety? These reasonable and legitimate questions were never answered by the health department. What I forgot to add to the list was how did food contact surfaces of equipment get properly cleaned and sanitized? There were no warewashing sinks or dish machines available outside. I also asked if a representative from the health department would like to meet and if I could help in any way regarding this outbreak. Again, I was completely ignored. But who am I, anyway? A concerned consumer who understands food safety, that’s who. I think the health department knew that I had valid points and that they dropped the ball on preventing this outbreak. Sometimes silence is a direct admission of guilt. Like the event organizers, the health department got paid from the permits they issued, holding them just as accountable as the cook who caused the contamination and the following illnesses. When people pay to consume food and beverage, there is a reasonable expectation that they will not get sick. Consumers also have the right to know that adjustments and corrective actions will be made to avoid future problems. This lack of response and urgency was from a health depart-

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ment that had a 14% reduction in its workforce, but planned on increasing inspections by 10% that year. I’m not a math whiz, but that does not equate. Makes you wonder about the unreasonable expectations set by the person in charge and if the inspectors were really taking their time observing violations. Were they doing the audits from the car in the parking lot? Foodborne illness outbreaks are tough to solve, especially when there were thirty different vendors at this event probably with thirty different agendas in regards to handling food. That is a lot of potential sources of contamination. If you add in onset time, symptoms, the victim’s health status and what was served on the menu, narrowing down the source becomes difficult. But had a health sanitarian been present and witnessed and documented what was going on, the evidence may have helped finding the source of the illness. Someone cutting produce on a cutting board soaked with raw chicken fluid would have sent up a red flag. I’m just saying. Regretfully, the exact source of the illness will always remain a mystery. The most ironic thing about this whole situation (before it got swept under the rug and became a distant memory) was that the magazine that sponsored the festival published an article in the following month’s issue about food safety at outdoor barbeques with direct quotes from the health department that was negligent in the first place. That feeble attempt at CYA (covering your ass) was comical. All parties involved in this outbreak were lucky that they were not dragged into a lawsuit. I know a lawyer out West who is one of the leading authorities in foodborne illness litigation. He always goes above and beyond for his clients and is a 25 foot great white shark when he smells blood in the water. If someone was seriously injured or even died from this Campylobactor infection, I think the landscape of the situation would have changed dramatically. Let’s hope that at the very least, someone learned something from this (I know I did) and will take proactive protective measures in food safety at future outdoor food events.

SECOND DEGREE

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eekends during the fall are very enjoyable in New York. The changing leaf colors, cool crisp air, pumpkins galore, football at every level, and hearty foods are anticipated; it is something I look forward to every year. One Sunday afternoon during October, I found myself sitting on Aunty Laura’s couch with her husband, daughter, and my wife watching NFL football. The beer was ice cold and the appetizers were coming out of the oven at a fast and furious pace. Vittles were flowing from the left and to the right. The third round of food was mini chicken cordon bleu bites; if you don’t know what those are; they are small, rolled pieces of chicken stuffed with ham and cheese. They looked delicious and I reached over to the platter to grab one and pop it in my mouth. That’s when Aunty Laura put her hand up in the universal “STOP” position and said, “Be careful Dave, those may be really hot.” After that stern warning, I was just a bit hesitant; she usually gives great advice regarding food safety. Spotting compromised food contact surfaces, cross-contamination potential, and general sanitation issues from a consumers point of view are just a few of her unique observational qualities. The beer must have made me think otherwise and that I would be OK; my mouth could handle it. My cheeks of steel, iron gum line, and tongue of stone could handle it. I’ve been wrong about food before, so like an idiot, I snatched up one of those cordon bleu bites, held it in my hand, looked at that criminal, and bit it right in half. That bad boy literally exploded and the molten hot cheese shot into my mouth, lip, and hand. Someone

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should have yelled fire in the hole! For fear of being ridiculed, I stifled my scream like a mugging and ran towards the kitchen to attempt to get the lava-like cheese off my body and out of my mouth. There are no words to describe the pain. I spit the chicken bite into the sink in an unsanitary fashion and tried to get some cold running water on my burnt lip and hand. Unforgivingly, the cheese stuck to those areas like glue and only came off after I frantically wiped it with the nearest paper towel. The extra millisecond of burn time did me no justice. I made an attempt at giving myself some first aid for my second-degree burns using the coldest thing I could find. The bag of frozen corn I grabbed from out of the freezer was too big for my face and I feared a picture of that showing up on some social network. When I walked back into the living room with my tail between my legs, holding an ice cube on my lip and another wrapped on the back of my hand, the “I told you so” look on Aunty Laura’s face was enough for me. That’s when my supportive wife chimed in with, “You dumbass”. The only person who had any sympathy for me in my predicament was Aunty Laura’s husband. He asked concerned, “Dude, are you all right?” I replied, sounding like I had a mouth full of hornets, “Not really bro, I got burnt badly, but no need to call an ambulance.” My lip, interior wall of my mouth, and hand were pulsating with pain. I took it like a man and as the football game progressed, so did the blister formation. When I got home, I was embarrassed and looked diseased. My swollen lip was all jammed up and I wondered how my food safety education class would go with my clients the next day. I could already see the students’ reactions—nice presentation, useful information, but what an ugly lip. Was that a sexually transmitted disease or was he sucking on a hot car muffler? Fortunately for me, I switched my schedule with another instructor that day to be out of the public view. I should have heeded Aunty Laura’s warning. Admittingly, I was negligent. My mouth had fallen victim before to hot items, such as coffee, soup, pizza, chili, and numerous other items that had come straight out of the microwave. Maybe my justified paranoia of cooking things to the proper temperature sometimes gets extreme. Besides cuts, slips, and falls, burns are a common accident when preparing or handling food either at home or in a professional kitchen. In my case, I just didn’t think I would be stupid

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enough for it to involve the inside of my mouth, lip, and hand all in one shot. That was a unique example of a physical hazard with food, one that definitely caused injury. Simple words of advice to all you out there—respect and understand heat, regardless of how it gets transferred. Having a heightened sense of awareness and an ounce of safety prevention can help you avoid unnecessary pain.

PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING

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y wife and I decided one Thursday evening to go out for a drink and something to eat. We didn’t stray too far from the house and ended up going to one of our favorite restaurants. When we drove up, the parking lot was extremely full; looking into the windows, we saw nothing but people. We thought maybe we could squeeze into a bar seat; however, that turned out to be wishful thinking. The place was packed, especially the bar area, which was four deep with patrons. After three “excuse me’s” within 20 seconds, a bump from a shoulder, a blast of someone’s hot vodka breath during an excessively loud discussion, and a partial step on the foot, I wanted out. I gave my wife the “look” and we backed our way out the front door. After a minute or two of debating, we decided to try the restaurant that was right next door to where we were. We walked the ten feet and entered the establishment. It was noticeably empty, with only one guy sitting at the bar; you could hear the crickets. My wife and I went up to the bar and sat down. The second thing we noticed was the encrusted food debris and stains on the bar itself; it had weird odor and I made sure I kept my elbows off the surface. The third immediate observation was the displaced fruit flies that were sporadically settled all over the ceiling near the lights. The fourth observation was the mouthful of food the bartender had in his mouth when he greeted us—was his saliva everywhere? The last thing that caught our eye was the dirty, misspelled menus that were handed to us. It felt like I was already contracting a foodborne illness without

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even consuming any food. It was going to be a short visit. My wife ordered a glass of wine and I got a bottle of domestic light beer instead of draft. At that point, I could only imagine what type of funky growth was going on inside the taps, so I played it safe. What really bummed me out was that the first sip of beer was piss warm. Only in Europe is that acceptable. Warm beer is definitely not pathogenic; however, I had to wonder what the rest of the refrigeration was like. Was it cold enough to keep potentially hazardous food out of the temperature danger zone? I choked down the brew (it went down like nails) and poked my wife to get her going on her wine at a quicker rate. We did not want to be really rude, so we did as most disgruntled restaurant guests do—we paid for our drinks, did not order any food, left, and do not plan on returning to that particular location until we heard something positive from one of our friends. Even a good published restaurant review may be shaded unjustly when money is involved. Some people pay for good press. From a food safety standpoint, the impression we got without even walking into the kitchen was negative. The extreme lack of business could have also indicated that the food may not be as fresh as it should be. Adding days onto product shelf life in an attempt to curtail rotation and save money to stop financial bleeding is a technique often used by struggling restaurants. The encrusted food debris on the bar and menus as well as the presence of fruit flies indicated that there was an obvious problem with sanitation. Having a mouthful of food was the bartender’s mistake; eating while serving food and beverage is not only unsanitary, it could also be construed as rude. A misspelling on the menu—well, that just screams a lack of professionalism and attention to detail. If the menu was dirty and wrong, was the kitchen dirty and wrong? It doesn’t necessarily take a disgusting and unkempt bathroom to determine that. No degree in rocket science was needed to figure that one out. Other observations consumers can use to gauge food safety in a restaurant are a letter grade that is posted in the front window (an “A” is obviously better than a “C”), researching health inspection results from regulatory websites or from watch dog groups, dirty silverware on the table when you are first seated at the table, and lack of maintenance upkeep (if the décor and furnishings are old, dusty, and unkempt, you can bet the kitchen is too). Obviously, sick or pissed off employees who complain about how they feel should also send up a red flag. It’s not just a dirty bathroom any-

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more; how an employee looks and presents themselves is a key indicator if they are properly trained or if they even care. As a customer, you should have an overall good feeling and not notice too many violations of common sense. Don’t get me wrong—there are many well-run, clean food service establishments out there. Unfortunately, some have even been rail-roaded in one way or another by a health department, politician, or publication because of some kind of conflict of interest or a clash of personality. Individuals who own, work, or even patronize places that serve food should always remember that they and everything around them are “on stage” and that perception really is everything.

FOIL

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everal years ago, a family member of mine suffered a devastating stroke. There was no warning, and it happened in a dramatic fashion. This individual led a clean life; he did not smoke or drink alcohol in excess and watched what he ate. All of a sudden, my family and I were forced to think about all of the intense care that was involved. It changed all of our lives. My relative was eventually admitted to a nursing home; my family took care of him for seven years until they could not physically do it anymore. Everyone was dedicated to the task and I was amazed at their strength, patience, faith, and perseverance. Finally, a family member injured herself badly trying to transfer my halfparalyzed relative from the bed to the wheel chair. This is not an easy task, even for a strong individual. The dead weight must be manipulated strategically; pure power will not get the job done. These transfers were relentless; it was a task that was done close to a dozen times a day. The care and around the clock supervision was necessary, and the tough decision was made to admit him to a long-term care facility. After many frequent visits, I naturally started to question the food safety aspect of the nursing home. The dead rat in the parking lot I observed one day was my first concern, along with the frustratingly cold, sometimes unidentifiable food and curdled milk he was sometimes receiving at meal times. Time and temperature abuse are the leading causes of foodborne illness. Improper cooking,

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cooling, reheating, and holding temperatures help the four-hour time frame in which bacteria can grow to levels high enough to cause illness. If the food product has a high water activity or is high in proteins and carbohydrates with a moderate acidity level, it can cause an increased bacterial load and a potential health problem. Rodents also spread disease, especially if they get into the food supply. They also represent a general lack of sanitation; seeing a dead rat so close to the facility made me wonder if there was an infestation. The day I noticed the sick nurse attending to one of the patients made me want to investigate the situation further. She sneezed and wiped her nose with the back of her hand like she was on the farm and kept complaining to her co-worker how miserable she felt. This really gave me an uneasy feeling considering the fact that my family member, a person who is immunocompromised due to the stroke, is very susceptible to getting ill either through infected human contact or a foodborne illness. This also could be life threatening for infants, the elderly, or pregnant and lactating women. To clear my conscience, I wanted to find out if the institution was a health risk. I could not just grab my food safety auditing equipment and kick in the kitchen door to do an inspection; my approach needed to be different. I had to file a “Freedom of Information Law Request”, or FOIL for short. I researched the internet and found out that I could actually obtain the health department’s inspection findings by making an e-mail request for the location I was concerned with. You can go to your State Department of Health website to obtain this information. In my case, I went to New York State. It took them a while to get back to me and even told me that they could charge me a labor fee for the time spent on my request, which thankfully they did not. Instead, I got back an e-mail from the state with a link to website that specifically dealt with nursing homes throughout New York (http://nursinghomes.nyhealth.gov/ nursing_homes/inspection/350). I was able to view the inspection reports and, to my great relief, the nursing home in question was not cited for any major health violations or any physical abuse from the staff members at that point in time. Having health department inspections available for consumers to review is necessary. New York City’s Department of Health has a database that is easy to navigate when researching restaurant violations within the five boroughs. The present grading system of A, B or C can go either way in my opinion. A posted C grade on the front door may bother some people; others it won’t affect

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and they will say, “I’ve been eating here for years and have never gotten sick”. I’ve also noticed way too many “A’s” when I’m in Manhattan, a fact that makes me wonder. At one point, I noticed on the health department’s website that a franchise group with over 400 locations within New York City all had an “A”. It just so happens that I had two years of experience auditing some of those very locations for health and sanitation because they were past clients of mine. There is no way in hell that all of them deserved an “A”. How does that happen? Sometimes, it is not what you know, it is who you know. Some of the fines the Department of Health gives out can be pretty hefty, even outrageous in some circumstances. However, if you run an unsanitary food establishment and really put consumer’s health and well-being at risk, you deserve everything that’s coming to you, including a huge dent in the wallet. Regardless if you are pro or con about the specifics of the grading system in NYC, the one thing for certain is that it gives potential diners the resource to look into the past history of a restaurant ‘s health code violations, whether they are good or bad. Public access to sanitation and health records regarding food safety should be made available to anyone who is interested in this information. Some food service establishments attempt to hide their record; others welcome it for the world to see.

TERRORISM THROUGH FOOD

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s someone who was in New York City on September 11th, 2001, I saw the fear, death, and destruction first hand. It is something I will never forget. I relive the horror every year on the anniversary, especially when I cannot seem to pull myself away from the television when a documentary is aired on the subject. The bombings at the Boston Marathon in 2013 reminded me yet again of just how vulnerable our society is. Killing and maiming innocent people, especially children, with an exploding pressure cooker packed with nails and pieces of metal disturbs me to the core. What really makes me think after a horrific incident of terrorism, whether it is domestic or international, is how unprotected our vast food industry is. From the farm to a retail setting, in some circumstances our food chain is wide open for attack. In order to further study and understand how the United States can protect our food from a bioterrorist attack, Plum Island research center off the coast of Long Island, New York specializes in pathogenic disease. No matter what the microorganism is, they attempt to find ways how it can be used as a weapon. The Department of Homeland Security runs that institution and because of the work they do there, it is a terrorist target as well. People with destructive agendas are out there, and some of them look like they fit perfectly into our unsuspecting society, quietly aggressive with premeditated thoughts of committing sensational crimes. Others are flat out whack-jobs, and their past actions

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seem to complement their future behaviors. All it takes these days is some information easily obtainable from the internet, a little bit of cash, and a strong desire to cause harm. Here are some examples of past events regarding food contamination that was done purposely: • A Palestinian terrorist in the 1970’s attempted to inject Israel’s oranges with mercury. • In 1984, 751 people in Wasco County, Oregon were sickened intentionally with Salmonella that was put into salad bars by followers of a cult led by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. • In 1989, Chilean grapes were found laced with cyanide that were being exported to the United States. • In 2003, a Michigan grocery store employee put insecticide in ground beef, sickening 111 people. • In 2012, several sewing needles ended up in sandwiches served to passengers on a commercial aircraft in the United States. In Germany the same year, sandwiches were served to unsuspecting people containing rat poison. All of these instances were premeditated with intent to cause injury, sickness, or even death. If you think about it hypothetically, water supplies and manufacturing plants service a great amount of people. All it would take to cause a potential disaster would be the introduction of a harmful microorganism that has the ability to adapt and survive in adverse conditions. Imagine a widespread anaerobic, heat-resistant bacterial toxin, like Clostridium Botulinum, which causes respiratory paralysis, being added to a food product that is produced and consumed in mass quantities in a relatively short period of time. Milk, perhaps? A little bit of Botulism, one of the deadliest neurotoxins know to mankind, could go a long way. All consumers can do is pray to whatever God they believe in and count on the CDC to sound the alarm and find the source as quickly as possible. I am a realist who understands the potential risks, not a fear monger. Food industry professionals must take this potential bioterrorism risk into consideration every day, no matter what industry segment they are in, and implement the following basic precautionary food defense measures:

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• Report suspicious activity. • Keep areas secure (e.g. electrical rooms, chemical storage areas, and water supplies). • Use visitor logs. • Use employee identification tags. • Prohibit personal items in food processing areas. • Implement food defense training. Finally, as the old saying goes, “If you see something, say something.” In the hectic yet sometimes complacent food industry, this can make the difference in avoiding a potential disaster.

THERE IS AN APP FOR THAT

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hile teaching a food safety class, I had one of my student’s approach me during lunch break, stating he had something to show me. He proceeded to take out his phone and describe the game he was playing on an app he had. It was called Plague Incorporated, a game where the goal is to wipe out the human population on the planet using various diseases; time constraints and changing environments add to the task. At that point in time, he had effectively wiped out most of the earth’s population. Only a few individuals were left in Iceland and he was proud of that. I was amazed, yet disturbed at first; this guy works in the food service industry where he could contaminate anything he touched. I could think of other fun things to do in my spare time when I was his age. He should have been chasing girls and playing sports, not transfixed to an internet game 24-7. Who is to say that this game, like other games, will not plant the seed of destruction in this young man’s mind? It is not out of the realm of possibility. Whatever happened to Space Invaders, Pac-Man, or Donkey Kong? Now I’m truly exposing how OG (Original Gangsta) I really am. At least the fictional opponents were not as life-like and were a decent stretch from reality. Killing a few alien invaders or chomping up a ghost or two is a little bit different than intentionally spreading a real disease in a real country. After my initial reaction to Plague Incorporated, I had to try it because I felt like I had to open my mind up a bit further. In my game, I chose a viral flu-like infection, transmitting it through water, birds, and human contact. I had it originate near an airport in

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Central Africa where many people are within close proximity to one another and the air travel would help the infection circle the globe. Ironically enough, years later the Ebola virus from Western Africa became a real global concern. Did I properly pick all the factors of a potential earth population ending disease? I could have picked Central Asia or Central Europe, but I thought that the vaccinations in those areas would be a bit better and become a detriment to the spread of my homemade plague. Needless to say, I found it thought provoking, interesting, and educational. The one thing I learned was that I make a half-ass bioterrorist. Maybe it was the functionality of the process or the thought of wiping out innocent people that made me such a loser; I just don’t know. The CDC also found Plague Incorporated to be non-traditional and would better help people understand public health. Let’s just hope that this life-like game does not put the wrong idea in the wrong individual. Another app that is put out by the CDC is a game called Solve the Outbreak. Playing this at least made me feel like the FBI was not going to be knocking on my door anytime soon to take me away in handcuffs. The game is based on past outbreaks and offers the player a chance to learn about epidemiology. It is a fantastic way to see how the CDC approaches a foodborne illness investigation, which is not an easy task. I strongly suggest this game for anyone who is interested in public health; it is definitely a “detective-like” experience. The CDC also has other apps for the informed consumer. Both of these games come at a time when the need to understand disease is at an all-time high and the general public should have a sense of the consequences and how it happens. No longer will they have to depend on a Hollywood feature film or their imagination for comprehension.

MUS MUSCULUS

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ne cold winter day, I was on a food safety inspection in the basement of a restaurant. The area was dark, spooky, and dirty, as well as cluttered with an excessive amount of unused equipment. Everything from forgotten bar snacks, shelving, old refrigerators, utensils, hay from past Halloween decorations, advertising material, and outdoor patio equipment was stored in a very small area; I found myself climbing around everything in my search for health and sanitation issues. The emergency exit door leading directly outside had a threeinch gap under it; no door sweep was installed and day light could be viewed shining through. Cold air was not the only problem coming in from the bottom of that door. When I got to the corner of the basement near the back wall, I moved a large outdoor patio umbrella that was propped up against the wall to view the area behind it. Suddenly, I felt something land on my shoulder that fell out of the interior of the umbrella. It was no desirable fruity cocktail from a past summer evening—it was a live mouse. When I tell you it scared the hell out of me, I ain’t lying. I almost jumped out of my skin, screamed like a little bitch, and frantically tried to knock it off my shoulder. My reaction was way too slow; the mouse had already bounced off my shoulder, landed on the floor, jumped on the concrete wall, and climbed up the 90

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degree angle effortlessly like Spiderman. The rodent then scaled across a ceiling pipe and disappeared into the adjacent wall. I was left stunned, breathing hard from almost going into cardiac arrest, and fascinated at the animal’s agility. Upon further investigation of the location, the place turned out to be infested with mice. Droppings were everywhere, including on a shelf in the walk-in cooler next to the food. They were fresh and shiny. If you take into consideration that a single mouse can produce close to 30,000 droppings a year and that females can have six to seven litters a year with six to eight offspring each, there is a definite potential for contamination. That is all mice do: nibble, reproduce, and shit all over the place, even in transit. Blue mouse droppings were on the floor in a corner closet area where the linen was stored. No, those rodents were not from outer space; that meant some of the mice had consumed the blue poisonous bait that had been set out by the pest control company. That evidence means death for some, but not all. Adulterated dry goods were in the storage area where the mice had eaten through the product packaging and consumed some of its contents. Rodents can chew through most anything; they have to in order to keep their ever-growing teeth in check. Nothing was safe—from electrical wires to wood paneling, everything was chewed on. I even noticed holes in the spray foam insulation; they were actually burrowing through it, mole style, creating tunnels that brought them from location to location. It looked like Grand Central Station for mice. A few mice were found dead on glue boards. One was so old the remains were skeletal, evidence that the activity had been ongoing for a very long time. Mus Musculus, or a mouse, can cause a frightful experience for some people if they are caught by surprise and an even greater scare if the mice are in uncontrollable numbers inhabiting a food service establishment. Besides product contamination, mice infestations also mean a critical violation from the health department, possible fines, closure, and a story on the evening news. The spread of disease is a potential reality if infestation is the case. Salmonella, Hanta virus, Murine typhus, and even the Black Plague have all been attributed to rodents. They also have caused massive damage to bulk food supplies and agricultural crops. Every year, the financial loss attributed to rodents worldwide is an issue that has to be dealt with by using an aggressive plan of action. Proper sanitation, eliminating harborage and entry areas, and

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implementing professional pest control measures are paramount in controlling mice activity. Operators of food service establishments (as in this case) have a tendency to blame the pest control company or a nearby construction site for the cause of their rodent activity. This may or may not be the case in some circumstances, but using that as an unjustified excuse and denying not having sanitation issues is the first detriment that has to be overcome. Pest control is a two way street. If a restaurant is not kept clean and maintenance issues are left unresolved, the vicious cycle of mouse activity can continue forever.

THE BUFFET

B

uffets that serve hot and cold food as well as sushi should be extremely vigilant when it comes to safe food handling practices. The set up in itself can be potentially hazardous, especially when raw fish is served. In this case, the fish used for sushi should be from a reputable supplier, properly frozen by the processor for parasite destruction, and a consumer advisory should be posted to warn customers about the potential hazard of consuming raw fish. The processing of the sushi should be documented through a HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) plan. Not surprisingly, these requirements sometimes get neglected. A self-service buffet, where anyone from the general public has access to food on display, can present challenges to food safety. Potential contamination from customers sticking their dirty fingers into the salad bar is a risk that the food service operator is responsible to monitor. On my first food safety consultation in one of these locations (which was actually announced, so they knew exactly when I was going to show up), my eyes were again opened to the true negligence in how some food services operate in regards to health and sanitation. When I first arrived, the manager let me in through the back door of the kitchen. He was dressed in shorts and flip-flops, like he had just come back from the beach. If his long, jagged, dark yellow, black-encrusted toenails were any indication of how he took care of his food service, I was in for a long afternoon. I immediately pointed out the baby cockroach scurrying across

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the kitchen wall; the manager slipped a flop off his foot with stealth and speed, grunted, smacked the insect into a pulverized flat mess, shrugged his shoulders, went into the office, and closed the door. Really…? At this point in time, I felt like I was in a movie, some type of low budget comedy where the outcome is always interestingly predictable and not that funny. In this situation, I had to be careful to document everything I saw—and I mean everything. As a third party contracted food safety auditor, my company may have seen the dollar signs with this contract, but me—I saw liability. To me, this looked like an opportunity for the food service to share the blame (as well as the lawsuit) with us had something gone very wrong and gotten one of their customers sick. That is risky business. How can you consult someone about food safety if they don’t care and they don’t want to understand what you’re talking about or the consequences? There were four cases of raw chicken with purple wing tips at 70F on the floor in the prep area leaking fluid. The packaging on the poultry was not legible; there was no use-by or sell-by dates, nor was there a receipt of where this product originated from or a time stamp on when it was delivered. For all I knew, maybe it came out of the trunk of a car. An employee was using an old copper wire that was attached to storage rack to cut hard-boiled eggs for the salad bar. I had never seen that technique before, and I finally realized what the thin light orange streak was running through the cooked eggs—rust. Several frayed steel wool scrub pads, potential physical hazards in food, were next to the sink area, and it reminded me of the piece of metal fragment I bit into when I had beef with broccoli delivered to my house several years earlier. The sushi chef was rolling sushi with unacidified white rice. He had no pH meter, distilled water, or a pH log to document how or if he was adding vinegar to the product. The man was free styling. Cooked white rice should either be held at 41F or below or 135F or above. The rice was at 78F on the counter for who knows how long, which is the perfect temperature for Bacillus Cerius, a spore forming bacterium commonly found in improperly cooled rice, pasta, and potatoes. Without adding vinegar, which adds acidity to limit bacterial growth in white rice, and zero sense of urgency to get that sushi into refrigeration, the food could cause gastrointestinal prob-

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lems. The raw fish alone, with the addition of the thermally abused rice that was not acidified, may cause an unpleasant date with the toilet bowl. Not even a container of aloe infused baby wipes, a full bottle of antacid, or a prayer will help you with that situation. You may have to see a doctor and hopefully not end up in the hospital emergency room. None of the staff washed their hands once the entire time I was there. How could they? There was no soap. One guy coughed into his ungloved bare hand before cutting a green pepper. Who knows what type of viral funk he was spreading? I tried to give that prep cook a nonverbal handwashing motion and even pointed to the hand sink and posted sign. All homeboy did was smile and nod his head at me. He just had one lonely, discolored, chipped front tooth; all the rest of his teeth were MIA and his gums were black. Damn… Things got ugly fast in this place. The green pepper he was going to cut came straight out of the case and wasn’t washed properly. Produce these days has been the unsuspecting culprit when it comes to foodborne illness outbreaks. Washing will help remove any lingering dirt, which can harbor pathogenic microorganisms or residual pesticide. The floors, walls, and ceiling were thick with dust, food debris, and grease. An unfresh, tough to describe smell hung over the kitchen area and actually followed me to my car. It was imbedded in my clothes. I finally noticed it when I was pulling out of the parking lot; my windows were up and the odor was trapped inside with me. When it was all said and done, my inspection was several pages long detailing the risks. I called my boss to explain what I had witnessed. He said to me “Dave, some of our clients are in dire need of our food safety auditing services”. To me, that was evident. The lack of concern about thermal abuse, personal hygiene, pest control, proper food handling, and general sanitation loomed and it never did get rectified. I went back a second time two months later and saw the same conditions, wrote up another lengthy detailed report, and attempted to coach and counsel the staff—all to no avail. A week later, that particular client dropped our services. When I was driving by a short time after, the location was shut down and the windows were boarded up—Probably a good thing for the community at large.

CHEMICAL HAZARDS

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once had a client in New York City that owned several restaurants. Unfortunately, management did not prioritize food safety. This responsibility was overlooked from a training perspective, and was only under consideration when there was a consumer complaint or the health department walked through the front door. Food safety should not be an afterthought. Every time I went on an inspection in any of their locations, it seemed like there was yet another aspect of their food handling that was suspect. On one occasion, it wasn’t a problem with the food; it was a problem with chemical labeling. I witnessed an employee fill up a spray bottle labeled “sanitizer” with “glass cleaner”. Even though the color differences were obvious—blue for glass cleaner, red for sanitizer—the staff member did not see what the big deal was. What people fail to realize is that what may seem obvious to some is not to others. So, as fate would have it, after I cited it on the report and coached the employees and management about proper chemical labeling, documentation, and storage, the practice continued. If behaviors are not constantly and consistently managed, they will stray from the ultimate goal. A few weeks later, the restaurant ended up using glass cleaner to sanitize cutting boards. The mislabeled spray bottles came back to haunt them. Chemical residues absorbed into the scored surface of the board, contaminated the lettuce they were processing on the cutting boards and in turn got several people sick when

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they ingested the toxic substance. Brilliant. Well, to make a long story short, they ended up getting sued for their negligence. The evidence was overwhelming. You cannot hide from lab results, receipts, photos, audits, and testimonies. To me, this was yet another case of “I told you so”. The lack of follow up did have an effect on two major things—their bank account (because it was settled civilly out of court for big money) and reputation. All chemicals need to be labeled properly and stored away from food and food contact surfaces of equipment. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen the following on a food safety audit: 1. Chemical spray bottles hanging over clean equipment air drying on the drain board of a triple sink, where the contents could possibly drip and cause contamination. 2. Produce being washed in the same sink bay that held dish detergent or sanitizer with chemical residues still present that can leach into food. 3. Pesticides (which should not be used in a food establishment in the first place) stored on the same shelf with food processing equipment. Not to mention the rocket scientist I once witnessed trying to get rid of fruit flies on a wall in a kitchen during the middle of lunch with exposed food present by spraying insecticide mist from a can. This guy had an itchy trigger finger and blasted the whole wall like he was putting out a fire. He said he did that because he knew I was going to cite the place again for fruit fly infestation and he didn’t want to get yelled at again by his boss. 4. Sanitizer concentration too strong in either the ware washing sink, buckets, spray bottles, or mounted dispensing systems. In this case, more is definitely not better. Sanitizer can be a chemical hazard if the concentration is above the manufacturer’s recommendation on the product label and it is not mixed for dilution and tested properly. If this high concentrate gets on a food contact surface, it can also cause a chemical adulteration in food. 5. Nozzles of chemical spray bottles pointed at food or food packaging or the container itself stored on a food preparation surface. Oven cleaner stored on a porous wooden pizza paddle is not a recommended practice. Food establishments must have proper Safety Data Sheets to go with any chemicals that are used in a food service establishment.

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This documentation is an employee’s “right to know” about chemical hazards in the work place under OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) standards. There should be a book on site, usually in the manager’s office, that has these Safety Data Sheets, which explain: • • • •

Chemical ingredients Health hazard, fire, and explosive information Protective equipment What to do in an emergency

Another type of chemical hazard, besides something man-made (food additives, preservatives, cleaning compounds etc.), is naturally occurring chemicals in food. “Naturally occurring” means that they are part of the chemical makeup of the food, not added in. Allergens are one of the more concerning issues, with millions of Americans suffering from one or more food allergies that, in severe cases, can cause death. The food industry has to take preventive measures to avoid cross-contact. Proper identification of ingredients through labeling with accurate “contains” statements is the law according to the Consumer Protection and Labeling Act of 2004. Items that are packaged and offered for sale containing one of the eight major allergens (milk, wheat, eggs, tree nuts, peanuts, soy, fish, and crustacean shellfish) declared by the FDA, which cause approximately 90% of all reactions in the U.S, must be properly listed on the product. Restaurants should have a “consumer advisory” about allergens printed on the menu or posted on a sign. Even at home, it is a good practice to understand who is allergic to what when entertaining family or friends. The amount of food recalls from undeclared allergens and the lost revenue associated with these is staggering, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Mold growth is also a naturally occurring chemical. Some molds are good, like in blue cheese, and some are pathogenic, like mycotoxins. Moldy mycotic nuts are bad news. Root threads of mold can grow deep into some foods. Soft cheeses, jellies, bread, casseroles, butter, and cooked pasta should be discarded. Moldy dense food products like hard cheeses, potatoes, bell peppers, and dry cured salami should have the mold sufficiently cut off, while taking special care not to contaminate the knife or the other edible part of the food. Mold can actually become airborne and spread like tree pollen

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in the wind during springtime; one moldy fruit or vegetable in a case of many can infect the rest. If a food is moldy, don’t sniff it to determine whether it is edible or not, people have actually gotten ill from doing that. Proper cleaning and sanitizing is an important part of maintaining a food service establishment as well as offering a variety of wholesome, properly labeled, advised, and stored food products. The risk of chemical contamination, whether it is manmade or naturally occurring, must be managed very carefully through consistent training, awareness, and follow through.

UNAPPROVED SOURCE

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hen I teach food safety classes, many students feel like they can open up to me and discuss the shortcomings of the food service establishments they work in. I think it is because of the level of trust we establish and it’s an opportunity to vent that sets the stage. It’s almost like confession at church, where the sins get exposed one after another. I have heard many tales of negligence in this manner, including this one. A few years back one student lived in a city that is very close to the Hudson River, a historic tributary in New York that runs from the Atlantic Ocean all the way up most of the state. He was fishing one day after a big storm and the water level in the river had risen dramatically. After a while, he started catching huge carp. Some of the fish were reportedly between 30 and 40 pounds. The bait they were using? French fries. That should tell you right off the bat it was a species of fish that was a bottom-feeding scavenger and would consume almost anything that was in its way. While having a blast reeling in these huge fish, the guys were approached by two gentlemen who wanted to buy what they were catching. They were offered a mere twenty dollars, which they gratefully accepted. At the time, they couldn’t have cared less or even asked what they were going to do with the humongous carp. Money sometimes clouds people’s judgment. As it turns out, the individuals who bought the fish owned a restaurant near the Hudson River and they ended up processing

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and rolling the raw carp they purchased from the fisherman into sushi. Can you guess what happened next? Dozens of people contracted a foodborne illness a few days after the raw river fish was unknowingly offered for sale ready-to-eat. Before the repercussions and the health department investigation had a chance to get off the ground, the restaurant in question mysteriously had a fire and burned to the ground. Whether or not this story is true, seeing as it was told to me verbally and was not confirmed through an Internet search, it still is ironically relevant to me. As a teenager, I remember crabbing in the same river and the same scenario happening. The guys next to us sold their crabs to a local bodega. We steamed and ate ours, thankfully without ill repercussions. I guess we were lucky and our timing was good; it was not after a major storm. If you add the fact that the crabs are migratory (unlike the carp that live in the river all year), our risk of potential illness was cut in half. I usually walk my dog on the shore of the Hudson River every morning around 4:30 AM. It is a scenic and pleasant stroll, no matter the conditions. On this mid-June morning, there were two gentlemen fishing in the river. Not unusual, but what bothered me was the fact that they had seven poles set up. They were not fishing recreationally; they were fishing commercially. One of the guys looked familiar; he may have worked in a local restaurant just up the street. Interestingly, they were using an old 5lb plastic soy sauce bucket to hold their catch. Who has that type of bucket lying around, other than someone involved in using a whole lot of soy sauce—a restaurant, perhaps? Usually I see large sheetrock taping compound buckets used for this purpose. Were these individuals catching fish to serve in sushi? At this time, the annual Shad run is in full steam; however, since 2010, it is illegal to catch and keep this species of fish in the Hudson River due to the reduction in population. In other countries, some types of Shad, such as “Gizzard”, are commonly used in sushi. Another migratory species of fish, the striped bass, already had its run to spawn. These fish that make their annual spring appearance may have ingested fewer pollutants (Polychlorinated Biphenyls, or PCB’s) from the river, making them potentially less toxic. Imagine if those guys hooked into a couple of bottom dwelling, year-round bullhead catfish that also feed on almost anything –even a dead body—then, rolled those radioactive bad boys up in raw sushi to serve to unsuspecting customers. That could possibly cause problems. Oceana did a study where they found that 1/3 of all fish sold in

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New York City grocery stores and restaurants are mislabeled with the wrong species of fish. The biggest offenders in this practice were restaurants who sell sushi; of the 16 locations where samples were obtained, all of them were negligent. Fish that is used in sushi must be properly frozen at sea or in the establishment with temperature documentation on record for at least 90 days past sale. Doing this will reduce the risk of parasites. A letter of guarantee should be posted at all locations that serve sushi to make sure the products used have been handled and processed properly, most importantly the freezing process. According to the New York State Department of Agriculture, before service or sale in ready-to-eat form, raw, raw marinated, partially cooked, or marinated partially cooked fish (other than molluscan shellfish) shall be frozen throughout to a temperature of -4F or less for at least 168 hours (7 days) in a freezer or, -31F or less for at least 15 hours in a blast freezer. That truly is colder than a witch’s teat. A HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) plan should also be followed; it should be accurate and available at locations that serve sushi, especially if it is delivered to another location. HACCP is a process approach that combines checks and balances to food preparation in order to reduce the potential of biological, chemical, and physical hazards. Vinegar should be added to white rice when rolled in sushi. It increases the acidity and lowers the bacterial growth risk. The pH level should be checked properly with a meter and documented on a log. This process cannot be done with brown rice because the hull of the grain does not absorb the vinegar. In that case, brown rice temperatures should be monitored on a cooling log. The FDA Food Code recommends proper cooling as taking a product from 135F to 70F within two hours and from 135F to 41F or below within a total of six hours. Improperly cooled rice can be as big a problem as the raw fish when it comes to foodborne illness. Sushi can be potentially hazardous if it is not prepared properly and thermally abused. All food products that are sold in retail food establishments are supposed to come from an “approved source”. The ingredients must come from processors and suppliers that meet laws and regulations designed to promote food safety. Food should be wholesome and safe to eat—not caught, processed, and sold illegally from a local river that has had its share of pollution issues. Fortunately, Mother Nature made the fishing conditions nearly

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impossible for those suspected poachers that early June morning on the Hudson River. I’m convinced she knew the deal. The wind and waves were very strong and their fishing lines were tangled. A low tide also must have had their baits caught on every rock, stick, and piece of debris imaginable on the river bottom. Those guys were running back and forth aimlessly, frustrated over trying to deal with seven tangled poles. Recreational fishing is supposed to be relaxing and lawful. The former 5lb soy sauce bucket was thankfully empty. I’m sure this is not the first time this has happened, nor will it be the last. As long as the temptation to make an extra dollar is there, there will always be individuals who will risk breaking the law and public health. Unfortunately, in the end, it is the consumer and the environment that get the short end of the stick.

WHAT’S THAT SMELL?

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he produce department in this old-school supermarket was in the basement of the building. Lots of unexpected, creepy things happen in basements, and often it’s not the most sanitary place to prepare or store food. As the manager and I got ready to descend the long set of steps to begin the food safety inspection, I asked him, “Have you had any issues with water from the recent heavy rains?” I should have known from the reaction on his face. He looked as if he wanted to say “Yes”, but seemed hesitant and unwilling to commit to a truthful answer. Instead, he carelessly replied, “I don’t know, I was off yesterday”. I guess in his mind that cleared him from any suspicion or responsibility. If I had a nickel for every time I have heard that response, I would be a wealthy man. About half way down the steps to the basement, this horrible odor crept its way into my nostrils. I stopped, looked at the manager, and asked what the smell was. He shrugged his shoulders and replied, “I don’t know” for the second time. The closer we got to the entrance of the produce prep area, the more pungent and funky the mysterious odor got. I noticed that the manager started to lag behind me a bit, obviously stalling before the skeletons came out of the closet. He even bent down to tie his shoe, yet there were no laces on his footwear. Then out of nowhere, he grabbed his cell phone, put it up to his ear and started talking. I didn’t hear it ring. He excused himself, said he had an important phone call, and went back up the steps. I’ve

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seen that technique before, with celebrities that were caught by media cameras and did not want to talk to the paparazzi. I wasn’t just going to stand there and wait for him to return, so I opened the door to the produce prep area. That’s when the reek smacked me in the face; I almost gagged. It smelled worse than a sweaty donkey at the petting zoo on a 93F day. There was about three inches of water on the floor, slowly coming up from the floor drain; my guess was raw sewage. Bits of toilet paper were floating everywhere and small dark pieces of what looked like excrement were gently rolling back and forth in the ebb and flow of the water. Amazingly enough, an employee was standing at the table in the middle of the prep room in ankle-high contaminated water cutting lettuce. Homeboy even had his pant legs rolled up, like he was going for a leisurely stroll on the beach. He turned around to say “hello” with a smile on his face. Even more incredible, he was taking the lettuce directly from a case that was on the floor. The waxed cardboard was wet and slightly submerged. Even if he was washing the produce before processing, which he should have been doing, I’m not so sure that would have made much of a difference in reducing any pathogens to an acceptable level. “STOP!” I yelled. “What are you doing, don’t you realize what’s going on here? Throw that lettuce in the garbage and get out of here.” In a thick foreign accent, he tried to explain himself in a loud voice while throwing his arms up in the air. Not only did I not understand what he was saying, I wanted my man to put down that big knife he was unsafely waving around. He seemed to be getting a little too excited trying to get his point across. I quietly told him to settle down and gestured in a manner to get him to comply with my request; thankfully, he got the gist of what I was saying and put the jungle-clearing machete on the table. Pissed off, I went back upstairs without getting my feet too wet to find the manager that had bailed out on me. This guy was having a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper in his office. He didn’t seem to care nor want to hear what I had to say. I can’t stand a direct lack of professionalism and being ignored when I have something of dire importance to communicate. Believe me, when I got done chewing him out, his boss was standing there and I threatened to call the department of health. A sewage back-up in an active food prep area has a strong risk of contamination and is immediate grounds for closure in some regulatory jurisdictions. At that point, everyone was all ears.

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Part of the problem with this scenario was the fact that the employee, being from another country, may not have been privy to the fact that standing in raw sewage while preparing food was a problem. Maybe where he came from that was acceptable; maybe he knew but couldn’t have cared less, or maybe his supervisor forced him to work in those conditions. If I had to make an educated guess, proper food safety training was not part of that employee’s job description. Another distinct issue was the manager. Did he not want to pay for a plumber or get the problem fixed? Did the concern of managing the bottom line on his operating report outweigh the desire to protect public health? At first, he tried to play it off with a phantom phone call; then, not to reacting in a manner that showed he cared was definitely disconcerting. Had another employee who knew better observed that scene, they may have filmed it with their smart phone and posted it on various social networking sites. That could have turned into a viral disaster. Backed up floor drains that create standing water is a big concern, especially when it involves human waste. Cross-connections (where contaminants come from drains, waste pipes, and sewers) and dysfunctional plumbing have caused several outbreaks of dysentery and gastroenteritis. Think about it—all the filth and grime from cleaning the equipment and other environmental areas end up in the floor drain. Listeria monocytogenes is a pathogen that thrives in those conditions. When a staff member walks through the water on the floor from a backed up drain or the wheels of a cart roll in it, that bacterium has the potential to spread all over the place. Fruit flies and drain flies can also live and breed in floor drains, and they have the ability to spread disease. Lab studies have been done on fruit flies where they have transferred a strain of nonpathogenic E-coli to apple fruit wounds. After 48 hours, the bacterium increased significantly, suggesting that it is highly possible that these insects can spread pathogenic bacteria. Fruit flies are not just a harmless nuisance; they can also strongly indicate a lack of general sanitation. It’s all just a matter of time before evolution catches up with us. Floor drains need to be cleaned and monitored regularly; if left ignored, they can become a potential source of contamination, especially during an emergency situation where non-potable water backs up and finds its way into a food preparation area. Those

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drains need to be put on a cleaning schedule and properly treated. If not, the dangerous microbial growth that’s there may eventually find its way into food.

RUB A DUB

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once knew an individual who worked as a waiter in a high-end steak and seafood restaurant. He used to work all kinds of shifts, and when the chance to double up on his work time came, he took advantage of it. The cash was good and it helped pay for his college education. Sometimes he would end up working from the early morning until late at night. When he did this on the weekends, he would always have this customer come in at the very last minute. A few times, this particular patron even went as far as to stick his foot in the front door as it was being locked or pound his fist on the glass until he was let in. He made this practice routine and did this several Saturday nights in a row. Apparently, this guy was a straight up asshole—you know the type. From what I understand, not only was he obnoxious, he also did not tip the wait staff or bartenders at all, which is a complete sin in the restaurant industry. This person liked to flash his gold, his fancy car, and his dirty whore, but his alligator arms were too short and could not reach into his pockets deep enough to pull out his cash when it came to gratuity time. One night, this customer arrived intoxicated, really late, and was extremely belligerent. He cursed at the waiter I knew and belittled the rest of the staff to try and impress his girl who was hanging on his arm, giggling aimlessly at everything he said. The couple ordered food along with a shrimp cocktail appetizer and told the staff to hurry up because he was hungry. The waiter was in the kitchen with the rest of the skeleton closing crew while management had already gone home for the night.

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By this time, the waiter was fed up with this customer’s antics and felt like giving him a little something extra with his food—free of charge. He thought about the classic booger or spit technique, but he wanted to take it completely to another level. This customer deserved what was coming to him. I will leave it up to your imagination for what happened next. The title of this story should give you a hint. The waiter brought the food out to the table with a smile on his face; he even dimmed the lights to make the experience more romantic. He checked back on the table after a few minutes and asked if they were enjoying what they had ordered so far, to which they replied yes with an unknowing mouthful of adulterated food. The intoxicated couple did not notice anything out of the ordinary and the item in question got consumed. Maybe the smell of the shrimp and decreased illumination helped hide the vengeful act. And that, ladies and gentlemen, made the waiter feel vindicated for all of the nights of mistreatment. Short and sweet. This customer was absent from the restaurant the following Saturday night, but he did eventually return with his girlfriend to the stares, whispers and giggles from the entire staff. After being in the food service industry for over two decades, I’ve said it before and I will say it again: I have seen and heard some pretty outrageous things that have been done to people’s food. Whether it was by accident, on purpose, or because of complete negligence, these individuals could make you sick or the laughing stock of the party. Contrastingly, I have also seen some of the cleanest, most sanitary, food safety conscious, and finest run food establishments out there. The purpose of explaining this is not to make you a paranoid freak every time you go out to eat; it is to make you aware of the potential criminality that can go on in a commercial kitchen. One positive aspect these days is the fact that there are cameras everywhere. If you are that type of person, such as the customer I described earlier in this story, watch your back when eating at a restaurant. Don’t send your food back to the kitchen more than once and always be pleasant. Be aware of how much alcohol you consume and make sure you tip well. These suggestions may save you from a bout of premeditated embarrassment and an extended date with your toilet bowl.

SEND IT TO THE LAB

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customer of one of my clients accused them of having an undeclared allergen—peanuts—in their chocolate chip cookies. Undeclared allergens in food are a serious problem to the millions of Americans with food related allergies. The frequencies of product recalls related to this have been on the rise for years. A child with a food allergy to peanuts allegedly consumed one of the cookies from my client and had an allergic reaction. Fortunately, it only caused hives and it did not result in anaphylaxis, where a life-threatening reaction, like swelling of the throat, can occur. The customer brought back a sample of the chocolate chip cookies to my client and demanded an explanation. The product in question was a ready to bake item that came to the restaurant frozen and was not made from scratch. Upon investigating my clients food service operation, it was determined that they had sound allergen controls in the food preparation, display, and storage areas. The investigation then turned to the cookie manufacturer to see if they had possibly contaminated the chocolate chip cookies with peanut residue from their processing equipment. The cookie manufacturer did make a peanut butter cookie, which they make last during the production process. This makes sense because it would limit the cross-contact potential. The routine million-dollar question was, were the cookie processors properly cleaning and sanitizing the equipment? A sales associate from the company picked up the uneaten sample from my client and told me that he was going

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to send it to their “quality assurance lab” to see if there were peanuts in the alleged cookies. After three days, I got the report back. Instead of scientifically testing the cookie sample in a lab looking for trace amounts of peanuts, they actually had a “taste test” with ten of the plant employees to see if they tasted or smelled peanuts in the returned questionable samples provided. Really? I wonder if they had some milk with those cookies. To taste a suspected sample after it has been in someone else’s care for several days cannot prove that contamination has come from another source. You don’t know what the hell that cookie has been through, where it’s been, or who touched it. Then, to base your results on biased, unscientific practices and then deem the “complaint closed” is absurd. That junk would never hold up in a court of law. Using “sensory evaluation” is a common practice. Seeing, touching, and occasionally tasting (which I would not recommend) a product is legitimate, as long as there are no bacterial, viral, or parasitic issues. Most of the time, sensory evaluation is done when a certain product is received in a delivery at a food service establishment, not necessarily to prove an ingredient. After the question was raised if the cookie sample provided was tested in a lab, within twelve hours the report was e-mailed from a third party laboratory that concluded the chocolate chip cookies did not contain any traces of peanuts. Now (at least in my mind) the complaint was properly closed. Lab samples of products are important to find out if food handling practices are within proper food safety guidelines and to conclude if contamination has occurred. You cannot hide food safety sins such as thermal abuse, additives, personal hygiene, or improper ingredients, like horsemeat, masquerading as another animal protein from lab test results. Many times throughout the years, food handlers have denied these shortcomings when caught with using improper food safety practices. “Not me, not me, not me…” But when presented with the overwhelming scientific laboratory evidence (and sometimes evidence from cameras,) they start to sing a different song. The denial suddenly becomes an apology. Common testing is done for E-coli in ground beef, Listeria in ready-to-eat salads, and a whole host of pathogens in drinking water. Sometimes a coliform count style testing method is used instead of determining a direct pathogen. A high coliform count

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indicates the presence of feces and that the environment is ripe for bacterial growth. Lab testing is vital in protecting consumer’s health and potential liabilities for food processors.

A SITUATION

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hen I vacation in South America, I make sure I visit as many historical sites as possible, get to the beach, and eat the traditional food. My wife and I were on such an adventure once, taking a walk around this magical shopping area after lunch. We made a few purchases and continued touring the area. The more I walked, the more my gut started to churn and remind me of the chicken, cheese, beef, rice, beans, salad, seafood, and custard based desert I had eaten over the past few days. Any one of those items, while they were certainly delicious, if contaminated or thermally abused can cause a problem for the intestines. It didn’t take long for my bowels to send a message to my brain that it was time to go to the bathroom, which had become a sudden priority. Foodborne intoxications generally have a short onset time, where the symptoms of illness show up quickly. Foodborne infections or toxin mediated infections can take a while to set in. I will say it again: it is not always the last thing you consumed that got you sick. However, it is not out of the realm of possibility. The frantic search for a restroom commenced, as well as the fear of soiling my shorts. I started to sweat and nervously look about, which was a problem for a suspicious looking gringo like me in a South American city. I did not want the police to think I was up to something illegal. To my relief, there was a sign that read “bano” on the corner of a building and I made haste towards it. When I entered the structure there was a pretty big guy standing

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in the doorway blocking my entrance. Who knows what he may have had stuffed in his belt under his shirt. He had his hand out like he wanted to get paid. I reached in my pocket and gave the man all the change I had, no time to argue about the surprise public bathroom fee. I went into the area where the toilet was, and guess what? There was no toilet paper. I exited the area to find my man who was guarding the entrance. In my broken Spanish I pleaded with him for some “papel”. He stood there smiling and put his hand out again like he needed his palm to get greased for a second time, just so I could get a piece of tissue to wipe my ass. I had no more “dinero”. I ran out to my wife who was waiting outside and explained my predicament as quickly as I could. She gave me all the change she had. By this time, I had to do the Charlie Chaplin quick walk back to the bathroom with my butt cheeks pinched together to avoid a bad scene. I am no stranger to this protective maneuver. I went up to homeboy at the door and gave him the money. He chuckled, thinking that my obvious discomfort was funny. Can you believe this guy gave me one single ply square of toilet paper? I was mortified. I took it anyway and headed into the restroom upset as if I had gotten a lump of coal in my Christmas stocking. I got to the toilet, and I was shocked again—there was no seat to sit on; just a dirty, disgusting rim and a sharp piece of plastic that once held the seat to the toilet. By this time, I was on the verge of shitting in my pants and I could not unbuckle my belt fast enough. I pleaded for mercy. After what seemed like an eternity, I finally got my pants down and had to squat for fear of getting some bacterial funk, a cut on my butt, or sliding off into the toilet. I hovered like a UFO over a cornfield in Iowa. The explosive diarrhea came fast and furious. That is one of the symptoms of Cyclospora cayetanensis, a parasitic infection that is associated with contaminated water. Was the produce I consumed washed or irrigated with dirty water? No time to ponder that; I thought about how I was going to clean up my starfish with the little piece of paper that I was forced to purchase. The good Lord must have been watching over me because my luck changed for the better upon discovery of an old napkin in my pocket. It certainly was not the fluffy good stuff I was used to—more like sand paper— but at least I was finally relieved for the time being. You would think that the hand-washing sink would be just as inoperable and unstocked as the toilet, but that was not the case.

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David Walpuck

There was a dried up discolored bar of soap and scalding hot water, but no paper towels or hand dryer. I used my shorts instead to dry my hands. Not a recommended practice. When I exited the bathroom, I patted the guy at the door on the back and sarcastically said “gracias”. I had some other choice words for him, but I kept them to myself. I ended up suffering another bout of food poisoning (Staphylococcus aureus) in the same international city as I did two years earlier and was just as miserable for a day and a half. Contaminants in food that cause illness come from a variety of sources. You cannot smell, taste or see pathogenic microorganisms. No matter who you are or how carefully you think about food safety, sometimes the inevitable happens. The only thing consumers and the food industry can do is recognize the importance of food safety, take it seriously, and follow proper procedures and controls to limit the chances of illness.

Conclusion

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ood safety is not just about proper time and temperature, handwashing, cross contamination, food contact surfaces, allergen awareness, pest control and general sanitation. It is also about law, liability, food recalls, past history, food defense, educational resources, lab testing, money and even how it can even affect our beloved pets. So many different aspects are involved when the discussion revolves around “safe” food. Unfortunately, most of these topics only get the deserved attention after the fact, when it is already too late. Think about it all, the next time you are in the kitchen.