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FY 2001 FSIS Cooperative Agreements for Retail Food Safety Outreach with Municipalities
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Participating
Municipalities
|
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| Philadelphia, PA | Maricopa County (Phoenix), AZ |
Los Angeles County, CA |
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|---|---|
| Reports | July 2002 Update |
|
Agency |
Los Angeles County |
| Key Contact | Ramon E. Guevara, M.P.H. Food and Water Safety Epidemiologist Acute Communicable Disease Control County of Los Angeles Department of Health Services (213) 240-7941 (213) 482-4856 (FAX) Akiko C. Kimura, M.D. |
| Description of expected activities | Situation overview: Los Angeles County (LAC)
is the largest county in California, with a population of over 9.5
million people. LAC is culturally and economically diverse; 66% of the
population are racial/ethnic minorities, and 16% of the people live
below the poverty level. In contrast, certain areas of LAC are home to
some of the most affluent people in the nation. Reflecting the diversity
of its population, LAC has over 22,000 restaurants that range from
small, family-owned ethnic restaurants in low-income communities to
large nationally recognized chains in wealthier areas.
There are approximately 1800 foodborne illness complaints reported each year in LAC, and roughly 90% are restaurant-related. The LAC Food and Milk Program responds to each initial consumer complaint and, in about half of these cases, initiates a detailed investigation of the restaurant. Each investigation takes about 2-6 hours to complete. In addition, LAC mandates that at least one person per shift in each retail outlet that processes or prepares food undergo training through their Certified Food Handler Program. Goal of the outreach initiative: To develop retail food safety educational programs in the underserved and/or underrepresented communities. As a first step, there must be an understanding of the characteristics of the small food service establishments. What are the demographics of the food handlers and what kind of training do they receive? Are there differences among those employed at small restaurants in low-income communities or in high-income communities? Do these differences affect food handling behaviors and foodborne disease transmissions? The cooperators are not aware of published studies that have explored these issues. This project will explore these issues by conducting a knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors survey of managers and front-line staff of small restaurants in both low- and high- income communities. A total of 80 restaurants will be randomly selected for the study from the LAC database. The results of the study will be used to adapt current guidelines, training, and educational efforts to improve the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of the target population. |
New York City, NY (and Statewide) |
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|---|---|
|
Agency |
New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets |
| Key Contact | Mr. Larry Decker |
| Description of expected activities | The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets will develop an educational manual and specialty food brochures in various languages that can be utilized at compliance conferences/educational sessions conducted at retail facilities that are experiencing problems with compliance of food safety practices. The manuals will consist of: Basic HACCP principals; emerging pathogens; sanitation principals; preparation of fabricated meat and poultry products; manufacturing of fresh, cooked, dry, and semi-dry sausage products; manufacturing of jerky products; basic sanitation principals; labeling requirements; and recordkeeping. The manuals will be printed in various languages and used by senior inspectors across the state as part of compliance conferences. |
Philadelphia, PA |
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|---|---|
| Reports |
Brochure
- Food Safety for Mobile Food Vendors
[PDF, 6 pp] The city of Philadelphia prepared a brochure explaining the responsibilities of vendors, especially with regard to sanitation and purchase of meat and poultry products from an approved source. Each vendor was supplied a source log with instructions that would assist the vendors to track where they purchased product to reinforce the need to purchase meat and poultry products that they sell to consumers from an approved source. |
|
Agency |
Philadelphia Department of Public Health |
| Key Contact | Mr. George Zameska (215) 685-7497 george.zameska@phila.gov |
| Description of expected activities | Of the 14,000 licensed food establishments in the City of
Philadelphia, approximately 1,230 are mobile food vendors licensed as
"retail food establishment, non-permanent location". Unlike
permanent establishments, vendors must be inspected yearly to renew
their food service license. These inspections are conducted at the
Environmental Health Office located in the district where the vending
unit will be operating.
The mobile food vendor inspection program has sufficient resources to meet emerging needs, but not enough to provide the recommended levels of service to identify and implement USDA food safety initiatives. Of the 1,230 mobile vendors operating in the city, an exact number of those that handle USDA-inspected products is not known. Although during an inspection vendors are required to provide receipts of where their food is purchased, this information is not documented in the permanent vendor record. This lack of documentation results in an inability to track a USDA product in the event of a USDA product recall. In addition, although food safety certification training is required for mobile food vendors, it is unknown how many vendors are implementing risk-based food safety handling plans. Under this project, all food items sold by mobile vendors in the City of Philadelphia that contain USDA-inspected products will have a HACCP-based plan. The plans will be reviewed by a trained sanitarian. Language barriers will be identified and educational tools will be translated. A comprehensive food vendor database will be developed. All vendors that sell USDA-inspected products will be identified. Random reviews of vendor inspection reports before and after implementation will be conducted to assess the number of critical violations observed during inspections. |
Maricopa County (Phoenix), AZ |
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|---|---|
|
Agency |
Maricopa County Environmental Services |
| Key Contact | Mr. David Ludwig (602) 506-6971 dludwig@mail.m,aricopa.gov |
| Description of expected activities | Facilities serving Hispanic-theme food comprise about 14
percent of all food service restaurants permitted in Maricopa County.
Between January and August of 2001, 231 warning letters have been
issued for significant noncompliance with the Health Code. Of these 77
(33%) have been issued to Hispanic-theme retail food establishments and
meat markets. Furthermore, for the year 1999, two of the four declared
food-related outbreaks came from Hispanic-theme retail food service facilities. Also,
of the 115 foodborne illness investigations that had definite
conclusions in 1999, 32 (28%) were attributed to Hispanic-theme food
service facilities.
These numbers present challenges to any food safety agency especially when the facilities are established and considered mainstream to our region. It is evident that Maricopa County needs a new approach to reduce the factors of foodborne illness as well as a reduction in critical violations that may lead to a foodborne illness in Hispanic retail food facilities. In response to this, Maricopa County has worked with a local Hispanic-theme food chain to address these issues. Through this cooperative effort this chain has decreased the number of warning letters issued from 5 to 0 since the program inception in 1999. They have also had a decrease in the number of foodborne illness complaints. In June of 2001, Maricopa County received numerous complaints on various carniceria’s (Hispanic Meat Markets.) These establishments produce food items that were unfamiliar to many of our inspectors, and the methods of production varied widely. By researching a number of these products and performing detailed training on what the products were and how they should be prepared, county sanitarians were better prepared. As a result of this training, a focused inspection was conducted on these markets. Approximately 82 percent of the establishments were found to have temperature violations, 28 percent had food which was either unapproved or unwholesome, and 41 percent had personal hygiene problems. As a result, over 1700 pounds of food were embargoed and destroyed. Long-term: Maricopa County would like all facilities to be in compliance with the Health Code and to decrease the possibility for a foodborne illness occurring. The Hispanic-themed establishments represent a small proportion of all food establishments -- yet present an increased risk to the public with poor sanitation practices. The Maricopa County plan is to develop a risk-based approach to food operations in Hispanic theme retail food establishments and meat markets. This program will be designed to reduce the impact of foodborne illness by promoting industry training for Hispanic-themed retail food establishments, and the development of food safety systems to provide active managerial control over foodborne illness risk factors. It will include creating generic HACCP plans for many of the food products that have they have in common and having the ability to show them how abused their product may become with current methods. Short Term: The program will first identify and provide a baseline inspection of Hispanic theme establishments, perform a risk study to identify the failures in their processes and then draft a risk control plan for the identified hazardous situations. Thereafter, the County will provide training for the facility as to the requirements and how to meet them. Follow-up inspections will occur. A final report will be submitted including sample generic risk control plans, additional forms used, and a project evaluation. |
