A Special Announcement From Foodservice Equipment Reports:
FER To Host New MUFES For Noncommercial Operators June 2011
Foodservice Equipment Reports will host a new Multiunit Foodservice Equipment Symposium next year, tailoring a two-day program covering the latest technological advances in foodservice equipment, supplies and facilities specifically for noncommercial operators across all the
segments.
MUFES for Noncommercial Operators, MUFES/NCO '11, will be held June 13-15, 2011, at the Barton Creek Resort in Austin, Texas. Following the pattern of the magazine's MUFES meetings for commercial operators, the symposium will be an invitation-only event, specifically for noncommercial-operator readers of FER and their suppliers, including consultants. The program will provide two full days of presentations on the very latest developments in energy savings, water savings and performance criteria for foodservice equipment and facilities, as well as sustainability best practices, process, channel and design issues and similar topics. As is the standard of all MUFES programs, only neutral, third-party presenters will be allowed to participate in the program.
The MUFES practice of limiting attendance to one supplier for every registered operator to foster inter-operator and supplier networking will also be followed. As is typical at MUFES meetings, suppliers must be customers of Gill Ashton Publishing.
A limited number of noncommercial operators will receive full "scholarships" to attend the meeting, including travel, hotel and the seminar fee. Those seeking to attend the conference will be afforded an opportunity to tell us why they will benefit from the program and why they should get a scholarship. More details will be available shortly.
For a sample of past MUFES programs, go to http://www.fermag.com/events/index.htm. More information on the meeting, including sponsorship opportunities and criteria, seminar fees, supplier and consultant attendance criteria, and hotel registration information will be available shortly. But save the dates: June 13-15, 2011.
In This Section:
A Special Announcement From Foodservice Equipment Reports: FER To Host New MUFES For Noncommercial Operators June 2011
Red Tape Gets Cut For Restaurant Development In L.A. County
House Bill On Child Nutrition Targets Food Safety
Walk Through The Regulated Restaurant
Menu Labeling Hits Down Under
This issue's Economic Report Sponsor: Henny Penny
Industry Report Sponsor: Server Products
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Red Tape Gets Cut For Restaurant Development In L.A. County
Designing, building and opening a restaurant just got a lot easier in Los Angeles, where revised regulations are reducing bureaucratic holdups. The new rules, put in place last week, reduce contradictory regulations among the city agencies overseeing the building trades involved—including mechanical, architectural, health, grease control, and electrical. The overlapping regulations led to delays of up to two years for some restaurants to open. But meetings between operators and the L.A. Central City Association have smoothed the complexity of the process and made it easier to obtain approvals from various agencies.
The L.A. County Health Department, in conjunction with five other city departments, has established a case-management network to streamline approvals and provide "hand-holding" assistance to operators and their design and construction teams. A foodservice establishment case manager (FSECM) can be requested to shepherd a project through the three stages of development—design, permit and construction. The assigned FSECM can help with everything from clarifying code requirements, determining permit costs and obtaining clearances to establishing a construction sequence and scheduling final inspections.
The new multi-agency approach should eliminate costly problems such as this one cited in The Los Angeles' Times: One prospective restaurant owner installed a system for handling grease at the insistence of the health department, but the sanitation bureau, which hauls the grease, then insisted on a different system—resulting in a $40,000 discrepancy.
Details at www.ladbs.org/press_release_FSECM.pdf.
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Red Tape Gets Cut For Restaurant Development In L.A. County
Designing, building and opening a restaurant just got a lot easier in Los Angeles, where revised regulations are reducing bureaucratic holdups. The new rules, put in place last week, reduce contradictory regulations among the city agencies overseeing the building trades involved—including mechanical, architectural, health, grease control, and electrical. The overlapping regulations led to delays of up to two years for some restaurants to open. But meetings between operators and the L.A. Central City Association have smoothed the complexity of the process and made it easier to obtain approvals from various agencies.
The L.A. County Health Department, in conjunction with five other city departments, has established a case-management network to streamline approvals and provide "hand-holding" assistance to operators and their design and construction teams. A foodservice establishment case manager (FSECM) can be requested to shepherd a project through the three stages of development—design, permit and construction. The assigned FSECM can help with everything from clarifying code requirements, determining permit costs and obtaining clearances to establishing a construction sequence and scheduling final inspections.
The new multi-agency approach should eliminate costly problems such as this one cited in The Los Angeles' Times: One prospective restaurant owner installed a system for handling grease at the insistence of the health department, but the sanitation bureau, which hauls the grease, then insisted on a different system—resulting in a $40,000 discrepancy.
Details at www.ladbs.org/press_release_FSECM.pdf.
House Bill On Child Nutrition Targets Food Safety
A child nutrition bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives June 10 would target childhood obesity, hunger and school food-safety practices. The legislation requests an additional $8 billion in funding over the next 10 years to augment existing child-nutrition programs and mandates that the U.S. Department of Agriculture adopt strict nutritional standards for so-called competitive foods, such as those found in school vending machines.
According to its sponsor, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the bill responds to parents and school foodservice directors urging implementation of new food-safety procedures, so that schools get better information about recalled food. According to Miller's office, the bill would extend food-safety requirements to all areas in which school food is stored, prepared, and served. The legislation responds directly to a September report from the Government Accountability Office that found a lack of coordination in communicating food-safety problems to schools.
The bill also calls for improving communication to speed up notification of food recalls, and aligns with GAO recommendations requiring all foodservice employees have access to food-safety training.
Questions remain about funding the bill through unspecified spending offsets. Passing the bill will be a challenge, from a time perspective. Both the House and Senate face packed legislative agendas, and the extension of the Child Nutrition Act, which currently funds the nutrition programs, is set to expire September 30.
View the GAO report at
www.edlabor.house.gov/newsroom/2009/09/administration-needs-to-work-m.shtml
A summary of GAO recommendations is at
www.foodsafetynews.com/2009/09/gao-tainted-food-risk-at-school
Walk Through The Regulated Restaurant
Experience and the bottom line tell you that government decisions and local legislation touch every aspect of a foodservice operation. So it's critical for operators and suppliers to understand issues which can range from traceability in food safety to the impact of sodium limits. The National Restaurant Association is simplifying it all with a virtual restaurant walk-through on its Web site for its members and their suppliers. A stroll through the "Regulated Restaurant" gives an overview of how federal, state and local laws affect hiring and employees; menu ingredients; kitchen equipment; and the building itself.
The site highlights six areas in the front- and back-of-the-house where pending legislation—such as the Employee Free Choice Act or BuildingStar legislation—can affect operators.
See it at
www.restaurant.org/advocacy
Menu Labeling Hits Down Under
Just months after the United States instituted national menu labeling requirements under the healthcare bill, a similar proposal is under debate for fast-food chains in Australia. Under the proposed plan, a fast-food chain would have to publish in its menus a range of information including the calorie count, saturated fat, trans fat and salt content of its products. The country's government says overseas models—including those in the U.S., where the policy applies to foodservice outlets with 20 or more restaurants, and the United Kingdom—will be examined to determine how the system would work.
In 2009, more than 450 foodservice outlets in the U.K. introduced calorie information on a pilot basis. They are displaying calorie information for most food and beverages on menu boards, paper menus or on the edge of shelves, and ensuring the information is clear and easily visible.
A spokesman for the New South Wales Food Authority said the definition of foodservice outlets that would be covered by the calorie reporting proposal was yet to be decided. A final report reviewing food labeling is due early next year.
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