It
is Saturday morning and you are reviewing the cash flow report
for the previous week. You are amazed at how well the sales
have been. You look like a genius since you hired the kitchen
manager for the restaurant. Not only have revenues soared,
but costs have declined dramatically. A smile comes across
your face because the future looks bright indeed without a
cloud in sight. Then, you pick up the morning paper and see
the headline: "Restaurants close after E.coli links."
The first paragraph reads: "The owners of a local steak restaurant
franchise, linked to a fatal E.coli outbreak, shut down their
second location after 56 diners became infected with the bacteria.
To date, three patrons have died from E.coli complications."
You begin to wonder just how the kitchen manager has been
able to reduce costs so significantly. The newspaper article
ends with an emergency hotline number for additional information.
You call and ask the state health official answering the phone
to educate you about foodborne illnesses, including food poisoning,
salmonella, and E.coli.
These are the facts you learned:
Incidents of foodborne illness occur more frequently today
than at anytime in our nation's history. Over 250 billion
meals are prepared annually. It is estimated that somewhere
between 24 to 81 million foodborne illnesses occur each year,
resulting in more than 10,000 foodborne-associated deaths
with the consequential costs ranging anywhere from $7.7 to
$23 billion.
When a person becomes ill after ingesting contaminated food,
he/she suffers from a foodborne illness. Biological hazards,
including bacteria, viruses, and chemical hazards such as
cleaning agents and toxins, as well as physical hazards such
as bone, glass, and metal, are all causes of foodborne illnesses.
The most common symptoms of foodborne illnesses are nausea,
vomiting, diarrhea, fever, and severe headaches. Due to their
inability to fight off infections, infants, the elderly, many
pregnant women, and those who are immuno-compromised, are
most susceptible to contracting a foodborne illness.
While you are on the phone, the health official sends you,
via email, a pie chart, distributed by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (see Table 1). It lists the contributing
factors which cause foodborne illnesses, and you gain a better
understanding of the overall problem. The latter includes
temperature abuse, poor personal hygiene, and cross-contamination.
After hanging up, you immediately pay a visit to your kitchen
manager. You begin the conversation by praising the recent
financial picture and personally thanking her for a job well
done. You go on to tell her about the article regarding an
E.coli outbreak and ask her to briefly summarize for you the
preventative measures the restaurant is taking to ensure that
a foodborne illness does not strike. Without the slightest
hesitation, she states that she has three basic foundations
for preventing foodborne illness:
1. That all employees practice good personal hygiene;
2. That all employees understand cross-contamination and work
to prevent it; and
3. That all employees know how to avoid temperature abuse.
You would have been satisfied with that general explanation
but apparently she isn't because she goes on to share with
you several specific actions the restaurant is doing.
1. Although the local ordinance only requires that one person
per shift be certified in food safety and sanitation, she
insists that all employees go through the course and achieve
their certification within 30 days of coming to work for the
restaurant;
2. The job descriptions for all employees states clearly the
expectation that everyone practice good personal hygiene and
grooming;
3. Signs in English and Spanish are posted throughout the
kitchen reminding employees that prior to beginning work,
after using the restroom, or after smoking a cigarette, they
must wash their hands thoroughly with hot water and use the
sanitizer that is provided;
4. During each shift, one employee is responsible for cleaning
and sanitizing the fixtures and door handles throughout the
restaurant, including automated faucets and flushing mechanisms
newly installed in each bathroom area;
5. To ensure the consistent treatment for rodents and insects,
a program has been implemented;
6. All kitchen personnel must wear hats or hairnets;
7. A variety of code-colored cutting boards, each color being
designated for a different activity, are now being used by
the kitchen staff;
8. Different colored mops are also being utilized to insure
that mops being used to clean the bathrooms are not used to
clean the kitchen or the dining rooms, and vice-versa;
9. Temperature gauges have been installed on all cooling and
heating equipment and are inspected regularly for defaults
and shortcomings, and kitchen supervisors have biotherms (hand
temperature gauges) to ensure that foods are kept out of the
temperature danger zone of 40 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. In
addition, temperature charts, logging the routine inspections
of the temperatures, are utilized for all heating and cooling
equipment, including the dishwasher machines;
10. All employees are trained and tested about proper thawing
and cooling, proper cooking techniques, proper reheating,
and proper hot-holding;
11. Proper food rotation for inventory and leftovers is ensured
by a date-labeling system affixed to all food products being
stored;
12. Servers are taught to never touch a guest's glass by or
near the rim. They are taught to carry and deliver the glass
by the base or near the base;
13. To retrieve ice from the ice machines, servers must use
an ice scoop--routinely cleaned--and never their hands or
a glass container;
14. A warning, pertaining to certain possible allergic reactions
and other elements, has been added to the menu informing customers
of the dangers of certain foods or ingredients (see Table
2);
15. A food safety list has been developed and is posted conspicuously
throughout the kitchen areas reminding employees about food
safety issues (see Table 3); and
16. Finally, proper food handling is emphasized to the entire
kitchen staff from day one.
These same employees, being rewarded for lowering food cost,
quickly realize that food prepared properly and cautiously
simultaneously lowers cost since none is wasted.
Then you take a moment to savor the fact that the future is
bright indeed.
Stephen Barth is an attorney and associate professor of law
and leadership at the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel &
Restaurant Management at the University of Houston. For more
information visit www.HospitalityLawyer.com.
Stephen can be contacted at (713) 963-8800 or via email at
[email protected].