Food safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. This includes a number of routines that should be followed to avoid potentially severe health hazards.

1. What are the 4C's of Food Safety?

Food can transmit disease from person to person as well as serve as a growth medium for bacteria that can cause food poisoning. In theory, food poisoning is 100% preventable. The five key principles of food hygiene are:

Prevent contaminating food with pathogens spreading from people, pets, and pests.
Separate raw and cooked foods to prevent contaminating the cooked foods.
Cook foods for the appropriate length of time and at the appropriate temperature to kill pathogens.
Store food at the proper temperature.
Do use safe water and safe raw materials.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC), there are 76 million cases of foodborne illness leading to 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths, annually in the US!

Restaurants and other retail food establishments fall under state law and are regulated by state or local health departments. Typically these regulations require official inspections of specific design features, best food-handling practices, and certification of food handlers. The Pennsylvania Department of Health is tasked with the duty and power to protect the health of the people.

Restaurants are inspected not only to protect the public’s health but also to help restaurant managers identify potential food safety problems. When an inspector comes into a restaurant to conduct an inspection, he or she will:

evaluate whether they are meeting minimum sanitation and food safety standards;
require them to provide food that is safe, uncontaminated, and presented properly; and
provide them with a written report, noting deficiencies, so that they can bring their

restaurant into compliance with minimum sanitation and food safety standards.

Government Regulations

Government regulations of food in the US are at three levels: federal, state, and local. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are the two federal agencies involved in the inspection of food establishments.

U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA is responsible for the inspection and quality grading of meat, meat products, poultry, dairy products, eggs and egg products, and fruit and vegetables shipped across state lines. If these foods are not to be shipped across state lines, then the state Department of Agriculture is responsible for inspecting them. The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is the public health agency in the U.S. Department of Agriculture responsible for ensuring that the nation's commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products is safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged.Local Foodservice Regulations.

2. Watch the FSIS video below and briefly explain what key part they play is keeping food safe and protecting all american families.

FSIS Employees Impact Food Safety
Food and Drug Administration. The FDA inspects all other food processing plants. The FDA is the author of the Food Code, which is the basis of most food protection certification training programs.
Most regulations affecting restaurants are written at the state level and are enforced by local or state health departments. City, county, or state health inspectors (also called sanitarians, health officials, or environmental health specialists) conduct foodservice inspections in most states.

The Food Code

The Food Code was written by the FDA and is reviewed and modified on a regular basis. It is a model document for foodservice regulations. It is intended to help state health departments develop regulations for their foodservice inspection program. The FDA recommends adoption of the Food Code but cannot require it. The Food Code covers the following areas:

Food handling and preparation -- sources, receiving, storage, display, service, and transportation
Personnel -- health, personal cleanliness, clothing, hygiene practices
Equipment and utensils -- materials, design, installation, storage
Cleaning and sanitizing -- facilities and equipment
Utilities and services -- water, sewage, plumbing, restrooms, waste disposal, integrated

pest management (IPM)
Construction and maintenance -- floors, walls, ceilings, lighting, ventilation, dressing

rooms, locker areas, storage areas
Foodservice units -- mobile and temporary units
Compliance procedures -- foodservice inspections and enforcement actions

Watch this routine restaurant inspection.

What Happens During a Safety Inspection

3. What types of things does the inspector do at the restaurant?

4. Does the restaurant have any violations?

5. Name one new thing you learned from watching this video.

6. What parts of the Food Code were not addressed in this video?

Check out Dauphin County restaurant inspections, Nov. 13 - 19, 2016

http://www.pennlive.com/food/index.ssf/2016/12/foods_not_date-marked_food_hel.html#incart_river_index_topics

7. Have you eaten at any of these places? If so, which?

8. Which is the WORST inspection? What specific violation makes it the worst?

9. Besides the place listed in question #8, what other place would you NEVER go to based on the inspection report?

Has your favorite restaurant had food safety violations? You only need to type in restaurant name and city to search! Check it out here at:

https://www.pafoodsafety.pa.gov/Web/Inspection/PublicInspectionSearch.aspx

10. Name one of your favorite restaurants. Did they ever had a food code violation? If so, why were they cited? When did it occur?