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1.What are basic hygiene practices? How frequent should they be performed?
This should be broken-down into 2 parts:
1) Personal –
a) being healthy and free from disease;
b) proper handwashing practices, e.g. using hot water and soap, scrubbing 20 seconds minimum, all the way up to the elbows, then use a disposable paper towel, or air dryer to dry hands.
Facility Hygiene – same as above but handwashing should occur at a minimum:
-whenever a foodservice employee changes job tasks, e.g. working with raw meats, wash hands thoroughly, then move on to prepping raw vegetables;
-after using the restroom
-after touching one’s face, or scratching
-after sneezing or coughing,
-after smoking
Refer to handout materails
2.Who’s responsible in informing employees of mandated sanitary procedures?
Facility owner/manager/quality assurance staff, foodsafety-certified staff, etc. In other words the facility is ultimately responsible for being familiar with the applicable laws. The Health Department Inspector (augments the existing management infrastructure)
3.Explain why your department is necessary? What would be different if your department didn’t exist?
Our department is critical in the enforcement of minimum foodsafety requirements, mandated through federal, state and local laws Uniform enforcement of food laws through enforcement.
If our department did not exist, market forces would be the only incentive for ensuring food safety, i.e. the public do not always know or see what takes place behind the kitchen door, poor sanitary conditions, poor hygienic practices, vermin infestation, etc.
4.How does your department contribute to the stability of public safety & health?
We are critical in helping to ensure that no one becomes ill from eating out. This includes the employees themselves.
We achieve this by conducting surprise audits, and in some cases, schedule audits of a food facility’s operation. We also respond to complaints which are reported by the public, which range from alleged foodborne illness complaints, to finding foreign objects in food, to the public witnessing an egregious act of unsanitary practices, e.g. a food server picking their nose
5.Are codes different from state to state or are they nationally mandated?
Health codes (as they pertain to the regulation of retail (and wholesale) food sales) differ from state to state. However, a Federal Model Food Code was introduced several years ago, which attempted to create national standards. Many states have already adopted the Model Food Code, however, California has not adopted it for a variety of reasons, some political, some due to “conflicting philosophies”. California is in the process of revising it’s own laws governing food safety. This revision effort should make California law more “science-based”, and it will make it more compatible with the Federal Model Food Code.
Also, some states, such as California, require that persons who perform official health department inspections are required to possess a license issued by the State, while others do not.
6.Do all restaurant kitchens have to provide and use gloves? Are there any mandated sanitation supplies?
No, CURFFL does not require the use of gloves, except in certain instances such as open cuts on the hands and/or fingers of the food service employee. Also, when food is served directly to the customer, e.g. cafeteria line where cafeteria employee serves food to the customer with a gloved hand.
Attached is the section of CURFFL regarding the use of gloves:
114020. Requirements for Food Handlers
(a) No employee shall commit any act that may result in the contamination or adulteration of food, food contact surfaces, or utensils.
(b) All employees preparing, serving, or handling food or utensils shall wear clean, washable outer garments, or other clean uniforms. All employees shall wear hairnets, caps, or other suitable coverings to confine all hair when required to prevent the contamination of food, equipment, or utensils.
(c) All employees shall thoroughly wash their hands and that portion, if any, of their arms exposed to direct food contact by vigorously rubbing them with cleanser and warm water, paying particular attention to areas between the fingers and around and under the nails, rinsing with clean water. Employees shall wash their hands:
(1) Immediately before engaging in food preparation, including working with unpackaged food, clean equipment and utensils, and unwrapped single-service food containers and utensils.
(2) Before dispensing or serving food or handling clean tableware and serving utensils in the food service area.
(3) As often as necessary, during food preparation, to remove soil and contamination and to prevent cross-contamination when changing tasks.
(4) When switching between working with raw foods and working with ready-to-eat foods.
(5) After touching bare human body parts other than clean hands and clean, exposed portions of arms.
(6) After using the toilet room.
(7) After caring for or handling any animal allowed in a food facility pursuant to Section 114045.
(8) After coughing, sneezing, using a handkerchief or disposable tissue, using tobacco, eating, or drinking.
(9) After handling soiled equipment or utensils.
(10) After engaging in any other activities that contaminate the hands.
(d) No employee shall expectorate or use tobacco in any form in any area where food is prepared, served, or stored, or where utensils are cleaned or stored.
(e) Food employees shall use utensils, including scoops, forks, tongs, paper wrappers, gloves, or other implements, to assemble ready-to-eat food or to place ready-to-eat food on tableware or in other containers. However, ready-to-eat food may be assembled or placed on tableware or in other containers in an approved food preparation area without using utensils by employees who comply with the hand washing requirements specified in subdivision (c). Food that has been served to the customer and then wrapped or packaged at the direction of the customer shall be handled only with utensils. These utensils shall be properly sanitized before reuse.
(f) Gloves shall be worn when contacting food and food contact surfaces if the employee has any cuts, sores, rashes, artificial nails, nail polish, rings (other than a plain ring, such as a wedding band), uncleanable orthopedic support devices, or finger nails that are not clean, neatly trimmed, and smooth.
(g) Whenever gloves are worn, they shall be changed, replaced, or washed as often as hand washing is required in subdivision (c). When single-use gloves are used, they shall be replaced after removal.
Mandated supplies includes the use of accurate thermometers in all refrigeration units and hot holding units to ensure proper food temperatures are maintained at all times.
7.How would you define cross contamination?
The unintentional transfer of disease causing agents from one source to another. Cross contamination can occur by either direct transfer by hand or utensil contact, or by contaminated sources, e.g. raw chicken, indirectly contaminating a food preparation surface, which in turn can potentially contaminate other ready-to-eat food sources.
8.It seems that all types of food have storage guidelines and cooking preparation instructions. Why is that?
To inhibit the growth and multiplication (amplification) of disease causing organisms, and/or to render those organisms and agents harmless
9.Does restaurants’ staff get trained to use the protective apparel? How often?
This is dependent upon the facilities themselves.. Generally, large chain operations and the more diligent independent operations incorporate the training of employees as part of their job responsibilities. This is less likely to occur in smaller “mom-and-pop” operations.
10.Are there informational seminars available for restaurant owners? Who sponsors these seminars?
There are many seminars available to restaurant owners. Alameda County offers the ServSafe® Food Safety Certification Program in English and as well as several other languages, e.g. Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin) on a regular basis. The California Restaurant Association, National Restaurant Association, as well as many other for-profit and non-profit associations and community colleges which offer food safety courses.
11.What type (if any) of continued education is offered for owners/staff?
At least one employee in a food facility is required to pass a food safety certification course, such as ServSafe®, once every three (3) years.
12.Are reference books (handbooks) provided?
Yes, in most cases the study materials are provided in advance of the course.
13.Who or what establishes the actual health guidelines? Local/national?
Primarily federal and state agencies. In California, the State Department of Health Services develop, enact and promulgate food safety regulations which, in most cases, the county government enforces theses regulations. States can chose to adopt the Federal Model Food Code as part of their regulations.
14.What health risk is involved with improper handling and storage of food?
Contracting a disease or illness is the most important health risk which is caused by improper handling and/or storage of food. Sometimes these illnesses can be fatal, as in the case of the infamous E.Coli cases of 1992 in the state of Washington.
15.What part of your job is the most challenging? How come?
Trying to change peoples’ behavior to comply with the law. The most common argument our inspectors hear is: “I’ve been doing it this way for 20 years, and no one’s ever gotten sick”. Also, people bring cultural practices from where they came and in many cases, these practices conflict with established laws and regulations regarding food preparation practices.
16.What can cause a restaurant to not pass inspection?
Surfacing sewage, little/no temperature control, gross vermin contamination all can lead to immediate closure. Violations are generally categorized as either Major or Minor. Most Major violations are followed-up within hours or days with a re-inspection to verify that the Major violation has been corrected. Some jurisdiction issue a “grade” i.e. A, B, or C, with “A” ranking the highest.
17.What happens when a restaurant doesn’t pass inspection?
Immediate closure, re-inspection, and/or a fine or citation with fine. Consistent non-compliance may lead to a hearing to revoke or suspend a restaurant’s Permit-To-Operate.
18.What are some of the bacteria and/or viruses that are risk factors in restaurants if proper infection control isn’t utilized?
Campylobacter – most common, norwalk/norwalk-like viruses, salmonella, staphylococcus, E. Coli, Clostridium spp., etc.
19.What part of a restaurant is considered a high risk area for infection/contamination?
Food contact surfaces, especially cutting boards in contact with raw chicken. If proper cleaning and sanitizing of these food contact surfaces are not performed, the possibility of cross-contamination is very high. Dry storage areas, particularly areas subject to rodent infestation are also high risk areas for food contamination to occur.
Ronald Browder
Chief, Environmental Protection
Alameda County Health Agency
Division of Environmental Protection
Department of Environmental Health
1131 Harbor Bay Parkway, 2nd Floor,
Alameda, CA 94502
Phone: (510) 567-6700
Pager: (510) 337-9432
Email: rbrowder@co.alameda.ca.us
Ronald J. Torres, R.E.H.S.
Supervising Environmental Health Specialist
Alameda County Health Agency
Division of Environmental Protection
Department of Environmental Health
1131 Harbor Bay Parkway, 2nd Floor,
Alameda, CA 94502
Phone: (510) 567-6700
Pager: (510) 337-9432
Email: rtorres@co.alameda.ca.us
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