The Tremendous Cost of Foodborne Illnesses, and What to Do About it

The cost of a single foodborne illness outbreak at a fast-casual establishment could cost between $6,330 to $2.1 million.

By Francine L. Shaw  |  Published June 2018

Each year, 48 million Americans become sick from foodborne illness.

America’s food industry has a $55.5 billion food safety problem. This includes foodborne illnesses at restaurants, hotels, convenience stores, and other food service organizations, as well as food recalls and other food safety issues.

Clearly, restaurants should be concerned about sickening—or even killing—customers because of a foodborne illness and should take every precaution to reduce that risk. But foodborne illnesses are also expensive and damaging for businesses.

A foodborne illness incident can cost restaurants significant money—including decreased revenues, hefty legal fees, potential lawsuits, diminished sales (and loyalty) from worried guests, and a damaged reputation that could permanently shut their doors. In fact, foodborne illnesses cost $55.5 billion per year in medical treatment, lost productivity, and illness-related mortality in the U.S, according to a study by Ohio State University professor Robert Scharff.

The cost of a single foodborne illness outbreak at a fast-casual establishment could cost between $6,330 to $2.1 million, depending on the severity of the outbreak, the amount of lawsuits, fines and legal fees, as well as the number of employees and guests impacted by the incident, according to a new study from researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Casual-dining restaurants had a cost range of $8,030 to $2.2 million, and fine-dining restaurants could experience costs between $8,273 and $2.6 million per incident, according to the study.

"Our study shows that a single foodborne illness outbreak can incur substantial costs, enough to compose a large portion of a restaurant's annual profits," the team wrote in the study. "Many of these costs outweigh the costs of various infection prevention and control measures that are available to restaurants."

Each year, 48 million Americans become sick from foodborne illness, per the Centers for Disease Control. Reducing foodborne illness by just 1 percent would keep approximately 500,000 people from getting sick each year in the US. Reducing foodborne illness by 10 percent would prevent five million from getting sick.

Investing in food safety is one of the smartest things that restaurants (and other food service organizations) can do. The expense, time and energy necessary to implement—or elevate—your food safety protocols won’t be overwhelming, and it’s crucial to your business success.

Reduce safety risks—and the tremendous costs associated with foodborne illness incidents and outbreaks—by taking the following steps:

Make food safety part of your company’s culture. Everyone—on every shift—must be trained in proper food safety protocols.

Invest in the latest technologies. Digital tools are elevating the way many restaurants do business. Not only do these technological tools make food safer, but they can also save restaurants tremendous money each year by preventing food waste and reducing foodborne illness risks.

Ditch the paper. Technological solutions enhance food safety protocols and make it faster, more accurate, and more efficient to conduct inventory, auditing, training and keep food safe. Restaurants that adopt and embrace digital tools (versus using pen and paper systems) can help boost the health and safety of their establishments.

Reduce human error. While human error can never be completely eliminated, advancements in technology help minimize the risks. Sensors ensure foods are being held at proper temperatures. Centralized, continuous refrigeration monitoring systems signal when temperatures in restaurants’ coolers or freezers rise above safe holding temperatures, eliminating the need to throw away entire coolers or freezers of food due to improperly working units. As a result, restaurants can save thousands of dollars (or more) in lost product and potentially save lives.

Elevate your data collection. Innovative digital tools can now be used for restaurants’ internal auditing systems, which is a more efficient, cost-effective and accurate solution versus the pen and paper methods that are often used in the foodservice industry. Using pen and paper to audit restaurants often result in increased labor, time, errors and expenses. Hard copy records can be difficult to organize and access—especially in the midst of a frightening food safety outbreak—and it’s extremely difficult to integrate and analyze the data. Digital tools provide more efficient, cost-effective internal auditing systems, with records that are easy to access and analyze.

Become mobile. A major percentage of restaurant employees are millennials (or younger), and they live on their phones. If you’re trying to emphasize the importance of food safety protocols but then provide employees with antiquated pencil and paper record-keeping systems, there’s a tremendous disconnect. Instead, implement digital systems that can be tracked on cell phones and tablets. Use downloadable apps to enhance the way employees conduct inspections, keep temperature logs, conduct training, manage QA forms, access food code information, and more. This way, critical food safety information can be (literally) at employees’ fingertips.

Improve operational efficiencies. By doing so, you’ll improve your restaurant’s bottom line. Eliminating pen and paper line checks can save $250-600 per year per restaurant, smart sensors that prevent food spoilage can save $1,100 per episode, and reducing food and labor costs can save $4,700 per year per restaurant, according to a recent CoInspect survey. Digital tools can help with brand protection and quality assurance concerns by optimizing and improving line checks, shift logs, inspections, auditing, and other reporting.

Reduce pencil whipping. There’s a widespread “pencil whipping” problem in the foodservice industry, where employees using paper record systems falsify records or “cheat” on their processes. As much as food service leadership wants to deny that “pencil whipping” happens in their organizations, it’s (unfortunately) a fairly common practice in restaurants, hotels, convenience stores, and other industry businesses. Pencil whipping can result in increased food safety risks, food code violations, and other (potentially costly) issues. Digital tools help reduce or eliminate “pencil whipping” through real-time data collection, and visual records using photos and videos.

While technology has previously been considered to be a luxury, today, digital tools are affordable, widespread and accessible. Technology that can help minimize labor, reduce (or eliminate) foodborne illness risks, and minimize food waste is not an expense, it’s an important investment. Innovative digital systems and records are fundamental to keeping foods, consumers, and restaurants healthy and safe.

Restaurants must prioritize food safety, utilizing the most efficient and effective tools to protect the health of their guests, employees, and businesses. Technology streamlines operations improve safety protocols, reduce errors, integrates data—and so much more, and the benefits are significant. When restaurant owners tell me, “I can’t afford the investment,” my response is always, “You can’t afford not to.”

How to Establish a Food Safety Culture in Your Restaurant

By Francine Shaw  |   Published by QSRMagazine.com

The food service industry was shaken when restaurant chain Chipotle had multiple, widespread food safety outbreaks, spanning various states. The incidents understandably made consumers anxious and, as a result, Chipotle’s sales plummeted.  It took considerable time and effort to reassure a nervous public that it was, indeed, safe to eat at Chipotle again.

Their tagline, food with integrity, was meaningless when various mistakes were sickening their guests. During (and after) these outbreaks, Chipotle had to review its protocols. Among other things, they sanitized impacted restaurants, examined their food sources, and reminded employees of safety protocols—like not to come to work when ill.

All restaurants should create and implement a food safety culture that emphasizes safety, cleanliness and following well-established protocols. Ensure that your food safety culture that starts at the top, with buy-in from leadership. Demonstrate that food safety is a priority that must be taken seriously by every employee, during every shift, and with every meal. By emphasizing the importance of food safety, your employees will work continuously toward the mission that you’ve implemented.

Every restaurant experiences kitchen chaos—it’s the nature of the industry. Busy shifts mean some employees may take occasional “short-cuts." In my role as a food safety trainer and inspector, I often see examples of this—such as employees not washing their hands regularly because they “don’t want to walk all the way across the kitchen” to the handwashing sink. Or they use the same board to cut raw poultry and then ready-to-eat foods like salad greens, cross-contaminating the vegetables with dangerous bacteria. Perhaps they don’t bother using a food thermometer to check the internal temperatures of the hamburgers they’re grilling and, as a result, serve undercooked meat. Any of these decisions could result in a foodborne illness incident, potentially harming (or even killing) your guests.

Major foodborne illness incidents and outbreaks seem to be increasing. Even innocent or careless mistakes can sicken guests and ruin a restaurant’s reputation. Foodborne illnesses are 100 percent preventable and could be avoided if restaurants—and other food service organizations—adopted a food safety culture.  This includes providing ongoing education/training, regularly holding inspections, and implementing proper food safety protocols. Ensure that you’re operating safely—for every shift, with every meal.

To create and maintain a food safety culture, your restaurant should:

Start at the top. Ensure that your company leaders are practicing what they preach, and setting a good example for employees to follow. Demonstrate a strong commitment to food safety, and emphasize that anything less than 100 percent effort simply won’t be tolerated.

Explain the reasons behind the rules. Don’t just tell employees what to do. Tell them why to do it. Explain rules around food safety, such as why they shouldn’t use the same platter for raw meat and cooked meat. Explain the danger of using the same board to prepare seafood for one dish and poultry for another—which could be deadly if that poultry is served to a guest with seafood allergies. When you explain why it’s so important to follow each specific protocol, your employees will understand the reasoning behind the rules and will be more likely (and more willing) to comply.

Train your staff. Food safety training and education should be an ongoing effort for all employees, whether they’ve been with your organization for two hours or two decades. Emphasize why food safety is—and will continue to be—a priority for your organization. Provide continuous updates and refresher courses for all staff to keep the food safety protocols top-of-mind.

Provide the proper equipment. Stock your commercial kitchen with the necessary tools to safely prepare and serve food. Ensure there are calibrated food thermometers at every workstation so employees can easily (and regularly) check food temperatures.  Provide plenty of cutting boards so employees can use some of the raw proteins, others for ready-to-eat foods, separate ones for allergy-friendly food prep, etc.

Keep temperature logs. Insist that employees take the temperature of foods at specific times—e.g., upon arrival, during the cooking process, etc. Make proper record-keeping part of your employees’ regular routine.

Inspect food to make sure it’s safe upon arrival. If food isn’t safe when it arrives at your facility, there’s nothing your team can do to make it safe later. Empower employees to refuse potentially unsafe foods.

Conduct inspections to ensure that all employees are complying with proper protocols. Conduct self-inspections regularly to ensure kitchens are sanitary, food safety rules are being followed, and mistakes aren’t being made. It’s also valuable to hire third-party inspectors to examine your facility and observe your employees in action. An objective outsider often sees things that internal teams may overlook. Their feedback can be hugely beneficial in helping avoid foodborne illnesses, infractions from the health department, and other potential issues.

Avoid careless mistakes. Remind all employees that even seemingly “minor” mistakes could sicken (or even kill) guests. For instance, they shouldn’t use the same towel to wipe the dirty floor and then wash the tables. Insist that they wash their hands carefully and often. Don’t allow them to wear their kitchen aprons to the restroom.

Follow food allergy protocols. When preparing and serving food for a food-allergic guest, make sure your employees double check ingredients, use clean gloves/knives/equipment, prep the food in an allergy-friendly area, and avoid careless (potentially harmful) mistakes, such as garnishing a plate with pesto when serving a nut or dairy-allergic guest.

Building, enforcing, promoting and embracing a food safety culture doesn’t need to be expensive, time-consuming or complicated. By creating a corporate culture focused on food safety, you’ll keep your employees, guests, and business much safer and healthier.

A Day in the Life of an Inspector: Is that a dead goat?

By Francine L. Shaw

I’ve been in the food service industry all of my life. As a child, I remember spending the warm summer days sitting on the front porch of my Grandma’s country store – a convenience store of yesteryear – in Harrisonville, PA.

When I was a few years older, my parents owned a small grocery store in a nearby town. I can recall wiping the shelving as I helped restock product. As a teenager, I began my first “real job” as fry girl in a fast food restaurant, which eventually led to me becoming an operating partner.

These jobs – along with some common sense and ongoing education – taught me the ins and outs of the industry. While I was in my own environment, running my own restaurant, I thought the rest of the world operated as I did, meaning – they followed the rules. Upon moving on to the next phase of my career I found out that, sadly, that’s not true….

I eventually became a health inspector, which meant I had access to hundreds of restaurant kitchens. My assumption that everyone operated as I did came to an abrupt end one day as I entered a restaurant kitchen just after they had finished slaughtering a goat – yes a goat. In a restaurant kitchen.

At first, I wasn’t certain what type of creature it was because when I opened the freezer door, all I saw were several small hooved legs strewn about the freezer floor. I immediately shut the door and opened it again, as if I was seeing a mirage. Out of the corner of my eye, I observed a box lined with a trash bag, with another hoof sticking out of the bag. So very carefully I opened the bag and found the remains of several goats. And that was a horrific sight that I couldn’t un-see.

Another time, I was inspecting one of my favorite full-service restaurants. With its marble floors, white linens, and great food, I’d been a longtime fan of this establishment. I was actually looking forward to visiting their kitchen because I loved the place and truly enjoyed their food.

But when I visited, I witnessed a disgusting scene. There were too many violations to list. There were numerous temperature violations and mystery meat in five-gallon chemical buckets (!!!) in the walk-in cooler. The cooks were picking crab meat off the leftovers from the guests’ plates to make crab imperial and cream of crab soup – two of my favorite dishes – to serve to other diners! The chilled forks were being cooled directly on three inches of contaminated ice build-up in a dilapidated old freezer.

As I stood, engaged in a heated discussion with the owner about these infractions, a cockroach wandered across the stainless-steel countertop between us. The owner simply smashed it with his hand and knocked it onto the floor. Oddly enough, the owner of this establishment didn’t think that his facility had serious safety violation issues. Not only did I write up these many violations, I haven’t eaten there since. The violations were appalling, and the foodborne illness risks at the facility were monumental.

While inspecting a different full-service restaurant, I was standing in the kitchen when I observed a chef take off a pair of single-use gloves only to expose another pair underneath – a definite food safety violation! When I questioned him, he explained that the sink was “too far away to keep running over there to wash my hands”. I was stunned. As it turned out, he was wearing five pairs of single use gloves simultaneously. On another visit to this establishment, I witnessed another chef washing his hands while wearing single-use gloves, rather than removing them, washing his hands and putting on a clean pair. The potential cross-contamination and cross-contact issues that both of these situations created were numerous. I am certain this “method” wasn’t taught in culinary school. Their instructors would be mortified.

On several occasions, I was called in to conduct inspections because people had seen cockroaches in restaurants. Cockroaches like warm, moist, dark environments. The first place I look is in a piece of refrigeration equipment. I’ll remove a panel and look at the fins that cover the coils….BAM! As soon as light hits the filthy little insects, they scatter and I know there’s an infestation. Not my favorite part of the day. I once was involved in a consulting project for a company that had been closed by the health department due to a cockroach infestation. We had to do some heavy fumigating. The infestation was so bad that as the cockroaches started to die, they were coming out of the drop ceiling and landing on our heads. Thank heavens for hoodies! I’d put that experience in the top five worst days I’ve had on the job (along with the day I saw the slaughtered goat!).

Insurance companies will sometimes hire us to conduct food safety inspections on their restaurant clients. During one of these inspections, I found several pallets of refrigerated product sitting right outside of a walk-in cooler – not 3 feet away from the cooler door. The product was well over the recommended temperature (41⁰F) for cold food.

It was the end of summer, incredibly hot and all of the warehouse doors were open, which let in more heat and humidity. When I questioned the supervisor on duty about the food that was being spoiled in the hot warehouse, he explained to me that it was lunchtime and all of the workers had left, but they would put the food away as soon as they returned from their break. It would have taken seconds to pull this pallet of food in the cooler with a forklift! I couldn’t understand why they’d drop the food so close to the cooler, without taking the (very minimal) extra effort to put it inside.

During another inspection, I found a tuna sandwich in a retail display case that was 80⁰F. When I explained to a person on duty that this was not acceptable – the tuna would quickly spoil at that temperature – and what the potential ramifications could be, the response I received was, “Well it’s only one sandwich!” I told her that one sandwich could potentially make someone sick or kill them if they ate it. So, it’s OK if you only kill one person today?

I could continue with numerous other examples, but the point I want to make is this: if you are in any way responsible for someone else’s food, you are responsible for their life and that should be taken seriously. One life (and one rotten tuna sandwich) or thousands of lives (as they eat food from pallets that have been sitting out for hours in a steaming hot warehouse) is irrelevant…ask anyone who’s lost a loved one due to a foodborne illness. And, it doesn’t matter if you’re working in a convenience store or a fine dining restaurant – you have human lives in your hands. Be responsible and follow proper food safety protocol.

Confessions of a health inspector: What is that mystery meat?

As a food safety inspector, I have inspected nursing homes, casinos, fast food, casual and fine dining restaurants, convenience stores, hotels and more. During these visits, I have seen some establishments that are operating as they should be, and other places that I’ve had to shut down due to multiple food safety infractions.

I entered a restaurant not too long ago to find frozen chicken heaped in a pile in the filthy three-bay sink, with dirty dishes and utensils surrounding the frozen raw poultry. To make matters worse, there was a bag of raw onions just to the side of the sink, where some of the raw poultry juices were draining. In the walk-in cooler, raw produce was stored under seafood and poultry, where juices could drip on—and contaminate—the ready-to-eat foods, and mold was growing on the cooler’s walls. Syrup-like strings of contaminated grease residual were hanging from the vents above the grill, occasionally dripping onto product as it was being cooked. The cold food on the restaurant’s buffet was well over the FDA Food Code’s recommended 41⁰F, and the hot food was well under the recommended 135⁰F. I was stunned and horrified by all of the blatant food safety errors happening at this place.

Another time when inspecting a fine dining restaurant, I found numerous temperature violations and mystery meat in five-gallon old chemical buckets in the walk-in cooler. The cooks were picking crabmeat off the leftovers from the guests’ plates to make crab imperial and cream of crab soup to serve to other diners! Much of the shelving in the facility was made of plywood, which can harbor all sorts of bacteria that can contaminate the food. An employee was literally crawling around on the shelving, where the dishware was stored, potentially contaminating the dishes with his hair, unwashed hands, shoes, etc. As I stood engaged in a heated discussion with the owner about these (and many other) infractions, a cockroach wandered across the stainless-steel countertop between us. The owner simply smashed it with his hand and knocked it onto the floor.

To be honest, I see cross-contamination issues, temperature abuse problems and insect infestations on a regular basis. I once caught a manager turning off the hot water heater – necessary to clean and sanitize dishes, equipment and employees’ hands – to save money! The one commonality that establishments with multiple violations have is they lack strong, knowledgeable leadership.

Here are a few helpful tips from Food Safety Training Solutions, Inc. for running a safe and successful commercial kitchen:

Stay current and get your team formally trained in a certified food manager course. This will reiterate the importance of the critical rules and regulations that you learned when you initially began in the foodservice business. Sometimes, a busy day or being short-staffed distracts from following the basic rules, and a refresher course can be a helpful reminder of the fundamentals 

Train your employees using a food handlers program. This will provide your team with basic (but critical) food safety knowledge. The more educated your team, the more profitable your organization. This also helps lessen the risk of food safety violations in your establishment. 

Conduct self-inspections. This will enable you to catch small issues before they become big problems. For example, if you received a delivery and it wasn’t stored properly, this gives you the opportunity to take corrective action, reminding staff of proper protocols. Otherwise, there could be a spoilage issue, a cross-contamination or cross-contact problem or other challenges that may not be noticed until it’s too late. Hold one another accountable. 

Use temperature logs. This is a valuable tool that will assist you with spotting temperature issues before they become a cost factor or liability issue. By utilizing temperature logs, you can take corrective action prior to having to waste product, therefore, decreasing food cost and increasing profit margins. This valuable tool will aid in finding temperature issues before the health inspector writes them up as code violations, but, most importantly it’s a proactive means to keeping your patrons healthy. 

Hire an agency to conduct third-party inspections. Often, bringing in an objective third party will boost your profits and increase your health inspection scores. Another set of eyes from the outside will see things from a different perspective, which can be invaluable. Third-party inspectors can review key elements that the health inspector will be assessing and point out possible infractions. Hire someone reputable, who knows the business and genuinely cares about your outcome.

Implement an active managerial control program. The purpose of active managerial control is to focus on controlling the five most common risk factors for foodborne illness:

- Purchasing food from unsafe sources
- Failing to cook food adequately
- Holding food at incorrect temperatures
- Using contaminated equipment
- Practicing poor personal hygiene

Taste correctly with a clean utensil every time – no double dipping!

Utilize single-use gloves properly. Single-use gloves are a protective barrier between your hands and the food you serve. If your gloves become contaminated, they’re useless. Prior to putting the gloves on, wash your hands properly with warm water 100⁰F (38⁰C) and soap, then dry them thoroughly. Never blow into the gloves or roll them to make them easier to put on - both of these practices will cause contamination. Single-use gloves must be changed as soon as they become dirty or torn when changing tasks, after interruptions (such as taking a phone call), or after handling raw meat, seafood or poultry and before handling ready-to-eat food.

Holding a leadership role in the foodservice industry isn’t an easy job. It involves long hours, high stress and significant responsibility. Sometimes you work for many days straight without a day off, but you still need to be a positive role model for your staff. Leaders should model the importance of proper food safety protocols, ensuring that their entire team follows these important rules. By doing so, you’ll improve your business benefits (higher profits, strong customer loyalty) and keep your valued guests safe.

Francine L. Shaw is president of Food Safety Training Solutions Inc., which offers a robust roster of services, including consulting, food safety training, food safety inspections, norovirus policies for employees, norovirus clean-up procedures, curriculum development, responsible alcohol service training, and more. The Food Safety Training Solutions team has more than 100 combined years of industry experience in restaurants, casinos and convenience stores. The company has helped numerous clients, including Paradies Lagardère, McDonald’s, Subway, Marriott, Domino’s, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts of America, Dairy Queen and Omni Hotel and Resorts, prevent foodborne illnesses. Additionally, they work with restaurants of all sizes, schools, medical facilities, convenience stores, hotels, and casinos. Francine has been featured as a food safety expert in numerous media outlets, including the Dr. Oz Show, the Huffington Post, Food Safety News and Food Management Magazine.

Foodborne Illness: It CAN Happen to You.

This year, there have been numerous, widespread, serious foodborne illness outbreaks. Many in the food service industry think it won’t happen to them. But it could happen to anyone—and it could ruin a reputation.

Chipotle prides itself on “food with integrity,” but the restaurant chain had multiple reports of foodborne illness outbreaks this year; Norovirus and Salmonella several months ago, and now E.coli in restaurants across nine states. Tainted celery caused an E.coli outbreak at retail chain Costco. Hardee’s had a Hepatitis A outbreak that exposed thousands. Just over a year ago, exclusive Mohonk Mountain House Resort had a Norovirus outbreak that made hundreds of visitors ill. These incidents potentially cost companies millions of dollars in litigation, settlements, plummeting stocks, and lost sales. Not to mention, it takes significant time, money, and energy to re-build the brand after the negative fallout. Some organizations—like ChiChis—never recover from a foodborne illness outbreak. All of the abovementioned companies have implemented corporate policies and procedures to protect against foodborne illness, yet something still went wrong. The risk is real for every company serving food. Here is how to avoid it from happening:

Get your team formally trained in a Certified Food Manager course. This reiterates the importance of the critical rules and regulations that you learned when you began in the food service business. Sometimes, a busy day or being short-staffed distracts employees from following the basic rules. A “refresher” course is a helpful reminder of the fundamentals.

Train your employees using a Food Handlers program. Provide your team with basic, but critical, food safety knowledge. The more educated your team, the safer and more profitable your organization.

If you have refrigerators in guestrooms, monitor the temperatures daily. Keep temperature logs. Guests expect the units to be working appropriately—so ensure they do.

Wash your fresh fruit and wrap it in plastic. If you offer whole fruit in bowls at your front desk or buffet, this protects the produce from guests’ potentially dirty hands as they select their fruit.

Take extra precautions at buffets. Assign team members to monitor these areas constantly for food safety (e.g., correct temps, no cross contamination) and food defense (e.g., customers potentially tainting items).

Conduct self-inspections. This enables you to catch small issues before they become big problems. For example, if you receive a delivery that wasn’t stored properly, you can take corrective action to avoid spoilage issues, cross-contamination, or cross-contact.

Use temperature logs. This helps you spot temperature issues before they become a cost factor or liability issue. By utilizing temperature logs, you can take corrective action prior to having to waste product, therefore decreasing food cost and increasing profit margins. This allows you to find temperature issues prior to the health inspector writing them up as code violations but, most importantly, it’s a proactive means to keeping your patrons healthy.

Hire an agency to conduct third-party audits. Often, bringing in an objective third party will boost your profits and increase your health inspection scores. Another set of eyes from the “outside” will see things from a different perspective, which can be invaluable. They can review key elements that the health inspector will assess, and point out possible infractions. Hire someone reputable, who knows the business and genuinely cares about your outcome.

Utilize single-use gloves properly. Single-use gloves are a protective barrier between your hands and the food you serve. If your gloves become contaminated, they’re useless. Prior to putting on the gloves, wash your hands properly with warm water 100⁰F and soap, then dry them thoroughly on a single-use towel. Never blow into the gloves or roll them to make them easier to put on—these practices cause contamination. Change gloves when they become dirty or torn, when changing tasks, and after interruptions, such as taking a phone call.

Helping Your Clients Prepare for a Health Inspection

By Francine L. Shaw CP-FS.CFSM.FSP.FMP

If you are reading this, more than likely you are someone that trains individuals in the food service arena. Nothing makes these folks more nervous than a health inspector. Trust me, I know - I am a health inspector and I experience it firsthand. One of the advantages I have (I believe) is that I have worked both sides of the industry. I know what it’s like to be on the other side of the clipboard. As an operator I thought everyone operated like I did. I held cleaning parties every so often to deep clean, implemented cleaning schedules and back-up assignments - the whole gamut. This isn’t the norm. I am thoroughly amazed at the things I find. But that’s not what this is about; I want to help you help your clients feel more at ease with their health inspectors.

Let me begin by saying, health inspectors are like everybody else. We wake up in the morning wanting (sometimes praying) to have a good day. Health inspectors don’t go out looking for restaurants to shut down. We are willing and able to educate those who are willing to learn. We prefer the code violations be corrected as we conduct the inspection; this helps the operator with their overall rating.

So, what does the health inspector look for? We each have certain areas we focus on - I’m certain (for me it’s ice machines). The pictures I could show you – there aren’t enough words to describe. Overall there are some key areas:

• Proper hand washing stations

   - Hot water – at least 100⁰F

   - Hand soap

   - Paper towels/Air dryer

   - Trashcan

   - Signage

*When done correctly hand washing is the single most effective way to stop the spread of infections.

• Health inspectors need to make certain that the food is coming from an approved source. And, yes we may ask for the documentation. You might want an explanation of what an approved source is… I once walked into a restaurant right after a goat had been slaughtered in a kitchen – true story! That meat was not USDA approved.

• Health inspectors need to ensure that cooled foods are chilled in an appropriate amount of time. How can I verify this without temperature logs?

• Does the commercial/manual dishwashing station have the correct sanitizer concentration? How do you know if you don’t have test strips readily available? Locked in the office is not readily available.

• Health inspectors need to assure that there has been no cross-contamination between various products in the numerous storage areas.

• Are hot foods hot, cold foods cold, and frozen foods frozen? Sounds pretty straightforward, but temperatures are a key issue on health inspections. Primarily because most restaurants don’t keep temperature logs, therefore they don’t realize that the products aren’t the correct temperature. Heck, sometimes they don’t even have a thermometer!

These are just a few of the basics, but if operators have these items under control they are well on their way to a successful health inspection, which will make them feel more comfortable with their inspector! In the few hundred health inspections I do every year, the majority of them are fantastic operators!

Where is my food thermometer?

Once again, I was out and about yesterday conducting food safety audits. My assistant and I entered an establishment and began our normal routine. It was a small operation so we weren’t expecting it to take long. Generally, we can tell right away if the operators are above board or not.

After introducing ourselves, we headed to the kitchen. The owner was somewhat distraught, “You didn’t call me to schedule an appointment.” Uh no kidding, I thought. “No ma’am, we don’t schedule appointments,” I replied. “Well, if you’d scheduled an appointment I would’ve been ready!” she blurted. “I guess so.” I responded.  “Do you have a food thermometer?” I asked, as I was taking the temperature of the water at her hand sink. “Yes.” She answered. “Great! I need to see it.” I said. The owner then went on a ten minute mission while we continued our inspection process. Now I’m not proclaiming to know everything but my experience is telling me, if you can’t find your thermometer within two or three minutes – ladies and gentlemen - YOU’RE NOT USING IT! And this is what I told her. Her eyes shot darts.

So, now we move on to the sanitizer, does she have it? Yes, there it is. How about test strips?  Another hide and seek mission. She tells me she just purchased some at Lowe’s. At Lowe’s? I have never seen them at Lowe’s. Who knows? Again, if you can’t find them… I seriously doubt you’re using them.

The point of this is to let you know that you’re health inspector is not an idiot. 

He or she knows if you are doing what you need to do on a regular basis or not. It’s much easier to be compliant and follow the rules, than to go through the awkward 30 to 60 minutes of the inspection process and wonder if you’re going to be in compliance or not. I personally hate those awkward inspections. Let alone the ones where I have to shut a facility down because they pose an imminent danger to the public.

Educate yourself and your team. 

Make your health department your ally, they want to help you. We love those who do their jobs well. Trust me; we want to have a good day just as much as you do!  And those Food Manager Certification classes - don’t just learn the information to pass the exam; take the information back to your team and share it with them. I can’t tell you how many times a day I say, “Remember that food safety class you took?”  “Oh yeah…” they say.

We can help you maintain compliance! Visit us at fsts.net to find out how. 

1 in 6 American’s Get Food Poisoning Annually, Don’t Become a Statistic!

Francine L. Shaw CP-FS, CFSM, FSP, FMP

Food Safety Solutions, INC  |  3.2.2015

Every year in this country 48 million people get foodborne illnesses, 128,000 individuals are hospitalized and 3,000 people die. US Foodborne illnesses cost 15.6 billion dollars per year…that’s right, BILLION. Yet, they’re 100% preventable. So why and how does this happen?

In most occurrences it’s really pretty basic. Here are the statistics: improper holding temperatures (37%), poor personal hygiene (19%), cross contamination (16%), improperly cleaning and sanitizing the dishes and utensils (11%), purchasing products from unapproved suppliers (6%). In many cases it is never determined where the foodborne illness originated. Of those that have been determined: 61% ate food prepared by foodservice, 32% ate food prepared at home, and 7% ate food that was commercially prepared i.e. tuna salad, potato salad, etc.

So how do you know the food you are serving is safe? If you are being proactive you really should have little doubt; but, so many are flying by the seat of their pants. Does your facility have a HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) plan in place? Do you panic when the health inspector walks in the door? Are you embarrassed by the results of your most recent inspection? Do you have at least one food manager on staff? The FDA FOOD CODE recommends you do, some states and jurisdictions mandate it while others do not. A savvy restaurant owner would educate their staff either way. To protect their customers, increase their bottom line and help minimize their liability. Take your blinders off and look around your facility, does it look clean? Not just on the surface, but the details. The threshold under the door where your customers enter, the ceiling vents, the baseboards, is there mold in the ice chute at the beverage bar?

Now is the time to get back to the basics. Keep HOT food HOT and COLD food COLD.  Hot food should be held at a minimum of 135⁰F (57⁰C) and cold food should be held at a maximum of 41⁰F (5⁰C).  Time and temperature play an important role in food safety.  It’s paramount that food products are cooked to the correct temperature and stored properly. How do you know this if you can’t even find the thermometer; or, don’t have one? And, this is just the beginning!

Are the employee’s washing their hands with soap? Are they wearing gloves when necessary? Are their uniforms clean? This is all part of personal hygiene….someone that is preparing food should never wear their apron into the restroom because….Well, I won’t get into that here.

Education is power. Educate yourself and your team; don’t allow yourself or your establishment to become one of the statistics in Bill Marler’s phenomenal food poisoning litigation practice.

Handwashing with soap stops the spread of disease and can save more lives than any single vaccine or medical intervention.

Please download the free handwashing PDF.