Food Safety News for the Hospitality Industry

Food Safety News

Tue 06/12

Parts of Wye River Closed

Portions of the Wye River are currently closed for the harvesting of Oysters and Clams. As of June 11, the Wye River east, Wye River narrows and the Main Stem of the Wye River are closed until further notice.
Please note this does not affect, swimming, crabbing and fishing in these areas.

Wed 06/06

Bathtub Laundry

The following  is a true story told by a student in one of my food manager classes.

During a discussion on the importance of wearing a clean uniform everyday a student mentioned that during a probationary period she was issued three uniforms and was told that she must wear a clean uniform everyday.  I said, "Perfect".  Then she informed me that she does not have time to wash her laundry in the middle of the week so she has to wash her uniform every night by hand.  See her story goes like this, she is as single mom living in Baltimore City.  Her daily routine is wake up at 5am, she gets herself ready for work, wakes her child and gets her ready.  They leave their apartment and catch a bus to her child's daycare.  She then gets on another bus and goes to work.  After work she repeats the process, comes home cooks dinner, checks homework and gets her child in the bath.  After the child gets out of the bath in goes the uniform to soak.  She then scrubs,  rinses and hangs to dry.   This is what she must do since there is no laundry in her building.  The closest laundry down the street is in a bad neighborhood, which she was not going to after dark.

Yes, you heard me right, in goes the uniform in the child's bath water.  I politely explained that she should not be reusing the bath water and for that matter, if she must wash in the tub,  she should clean and sanitize the bathtub first.  Better yet, she should explain to her employer that she really needs five uniforms to comply with their requirements.

When repeating this story in another class as a teachable moment a student sat there shaking her head in agreement.  WHAT? There are more that do this?  The owner of a fine dining restaurant was in the same class and explained how expensive full uniforms are.  I suggested that maybe for the trial employees they provide an alternative like a screen printed shirt rather than the expensive embroidered polo. He latter called to thank me. Stating that not only is he saving money but he took an informal pole and discovered that many of his staff are in a similar situation.

You can not put a cost on providing safe food to the public.  Provide your staff with the proper tools to do their job and that includes proper uniforms and aprons.

Wed 05/30

Radioactive Tuna...

Food Safety News reports that the levels of radioactive substances found in Blue Fin tuna of the California coast are well within the safe levels. These particular tuna swam in waters near the Japan nuclear plant that was damaged in the 2011 earthquake and the radioactive substances now being detected in the muscle of the fish.

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/05/elevated- levels-of-radioactivity-in-bluefin-tuna-still- safe/

Fri 05/11

Facebook Page is Down

My Facebook Business Page has been taken down by Facebook. Why? I don't know. Other than a cookie cutter email that stated someone complained I infringed on their intellectual rights and that I should review what I have posted.

First off all the posts are my own thoughts or I share links to others pages. Second, even if I thought I may have done something inadvertently I could not fix if I wanted to since the page has been disabled!

Lesson learned about Facebook and its almighty power.

Tue 04/24

Food Safety VS Ecology

I am from the beautiful Chesapeake Bay region and I am concerned about the ecology of the bay as well as food safety and consuming healthy and safe foods.

After reading an article entitled How Making Food Safe Can Harm Wildlife And Water by Dan Charles a Correspondent on NPR's food blog "the salt", I was concerned about what we are doing to protect our farmers and bay.

Here is what is happening in the Salinas Valley of California. Do you recall the spinach out-break of E.Coli a few years back. That outbreak has started a conflict between food safety and the ecology. As reported in an article, the corrective measures taken to provide safe produce has come at a great cost to the waters of Montery Bay and has created errosion problems.

In an effort to prevent feces from animals from coming in contact with the produce the farmers now strip the land of all other vegetation other than the crop they are growing. This has created errosion problems as well as allowing fertilizers used on crops to flow directly into streams and drainage ditches. This run off was curbed in the past by grasses growing on the banks.

The good news is after I did some further reading and research I found that the CBF (Chesapeake Bay Foundation) is continously working on ways to preserve both the local farmers and the health of the bay. For instance, using fencing and stream buffers to keep animal runoff away from the waterways. Encouraging raising animals in pastures rather than pens allows for a more natural way for manure to be spread. These are just two things that will help food safety and the health of waterways.

Remember that there are natural bacteria found on our food the comes from the soil it is grown in that can be harmful to humans. Always wash your vegetables and fruits in slightly warmer water than the temperature of the produce. Dry wsingle use paper towel only.

Mon 04/16

2nd Anniversary

June 8th will be our 2 year anniversary! I can not believe how fast the time has gone by. My thoughts are of all the students, both experienced and new to food service that I have trained. I am so proud to have assisted you in your food safety training. I am blessed that I work at a job that I love so much. But I would not be successful if it had not been for the countless referrals that I have received from my students. I appreciate that more than you know.
Looking forward to many more years of food safety training and hospitality consultation.
Sue Farace
Owner

Thu 03/22

Where does your food come

This is a fun and interactive resource to educate you on where in the world the food you commonly purchase comes from.

Thu 02/23

Grilled Stuffed Baby Bell

What a beautiful day in Baltimore today. I spent the day hanging a wall size white board. I am going to love this when I am teaching! Of course with this warm weather I had to break out the grill. Perfect weather for the classic steak and baked potato BUT...I saw some nice size baby bellas at the store...a must on the grill. I wanted something different so I stuffed them with fresh mozzarella and sun dried tomatoes. YUMMY! Read how I did it on our face book page

Thu 02/02

We are moving...

That's right, we are moving our office...but just down the hall. Doing some painting this weekend and I will be ready to teach the two day class coming up on Tuesday.