FROM THE FIELD
May 2007
Take Control Of Your Future While You Still Can

Follow the regulatory beat long enough, and you start to develop a nervous twitch. Not only because needlessly damaging regulations get suggested and passed, but because foodservice appears to lumber along totally oblivious to all of it. "Ripe for the picking" is how some experts have described our industry. "In a deep sleep" is how others put it.

Despite foodservice's inability to get itself together, news so far is both good and bad in the ongoing refinement of California's Bay Area Air Quality Management District proposed regulation 6, rule 2. As some of you might recall reading here and elsewhere, the BAAQMD last year drafted a proposal to require a very particular, new kind of filter to capture effluent from underfired charbroilers. That part was fine, but then the plan was expanded to require the same new-generation, super high efficiency filters for all Type I hoods that didn't already have fixed extractors or removable cartridge filters, regardless of what kind of cooking was going on under that hood. (See the January Opinion column at http://www.fermag.com/editorials/ward/2007/01_07.htm for the full story.)

That expanded version amounted to using a $3,000 Defense Department mallet to swat flies. Fortunately, during the public comment period last November, a small handful of industry experts successfully fought the plan to a temporary standstill. Despite a widely publicized call to action, ironically, not a single restaurant chain showed up to protect its own interests. Virtually all the debate was provided by ventilation engineers, manufacturers and two local independent operators. It was absurd that big chain organizations wouldn't show up for such a momentous debate, and we said so in the January issue.

Since then, the good news is that the BAAQMD has re-narrowed its focus to underfired charbroilers. The bad news is that the revised proposal, as of early April, required hoods over underfired charbroilers to use demand ventilation controls. That'd be good as an energy-conservation technique in most applications, of course. But ironically, underfired charbroilers need almost as much exhaust when idling as when cooking. So again, regulators need to go back to the drawing board.

And still, there's been no help coming from the big chain operators, according to Don Fisher, of the Food Service Technology Center, who's been a leader in helping the BAAQMD sort through the issues.

"Big Brother is looking in on you, but he's not looking out for you."

A third round of discussions is scheduled for May 16 in San Francisco. You can read the revised proposal by going to http://www.baaqmd.gov/pln/ruledev/regulatory_public_hearings.htm and following the links related to Regulation 6, Rule 2. To file public comment, you can click on the link for the Public Hearing Notice, and scroll to the last paragraph for a public comments link.

And, unfortunately, this particular regulation is just one among many around the country that need your constant vigilance. In just the past year or so, you've seen hood interlock systems mandated where there really wasn't much need for such a law. You've seen two code bodies fail to unify either their plumbing codes or their building codes, despite the fact that unified codes make sense. You've seeing fats, oils and grease regulations go this way and that from one town to the next.

You've seen the FDA fall back on its food inspections. In March you saw the ridiculous case of melamine in Chinese wheat gluten that was used in a huge number of brands of pet foods.

Big Brother might be looking in on you, but he's definitely not looking out for you.

You'd better start budgeting to have an advocate tracking all these initiatives. You need to take control of your own future.

Budget is a key issue, as usual. FDA’s food safety budget has risen during these years. It just hasn’t risen enough to cover personnel costs, the AP reports.

You'd better start budgeting to have an advocate tracking all these initiatives. You need to take control of your own future.

Brian Ward
Chief Editor