In This Section:
Illinois Local Smoking Ban Legislation Goes Down In Flames
Kansas City Looks At Changes In Inspections, Operations
Dallas Restaurants May Have To Post Inspection Scores Like Report Cards
Indiana To Require Certified Food Handlers On Staff
NSF Offers Training Course On Restaurant Plan Review
This issue's Economic Report Sponsor: DI Foodservice Cos. | Industry ReportSponsor: BUNN Corp.
 
Illinois Local Smoking Ban Legislation Goes Down In Flames
Illinois municipalities’ ability to enact their own local smoking bans got smoked recently in that state’s House of Representatives.
House Bill 3996, which would allow any town the ability to seek a smoking ban, failed to receive enough votes to pass on to the next level when it came up for a vote on March 30. Under the current Illinois Clean Indoor Air Act, 19 communities are allowed to enact stricter smoking codes than the state because they had a clean indoor act on their local books before the state law was passed.
The Illinois Restaurant Association lobbied against the proposed legislation, taking the position that individual operators should be able to set their own smoking policies. If Illinois towns had the ability to self-regulate smoking, the IRA maintained, the result would be a “patchwork” of laws across the state, and unfair advantage to operators in towns where smoking was not controlled.
Kansas City Looks At Changes In Inspections, Operations
Operators in Kansas City, Mo., may soon be looking at a raft of changes in certification and inspection procedures.
A proposed ordinance there would slightly relax the amount of time that could elapse between restaurant inspections and ease the temperature requirement for hot food held in steam tables. It would also require minimum training standards for food inspectors, require food safety training for all food employees over a three year period, and provide several new types of food handling permits.
The temperature change would allow hot foods in steam tables to be held at 135°F instead of the current 140°F. The Food and Drug Administration allowed the reduction in its Supplement to the 2001 Food Code.
Relaxing the timing of inspections would add a degree of “randomization,” according to Health Department Dir. Rex Archer, so operators wouldn’t always know when inspectors would show up. A shortage of inspectors has given the city a backlog of about 200 restaurants, out of 3,200 eateries.
The full Council was scheduled to consider the proposal late this month. Many of the changes are meant to bring Kansas City in line with the 2001 FDA Food Code. The city has until now operated based on the 1999 code.
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Dallas Restaurants May Have To Post Inspection Scores Like Report Cards
The Dallas Health Department has proposed regulations that would require restaurants to post inspection ratings, report-card style, for the public to see and to enroll employees in food handler certification classes. The proposed changes could go before the Dallas City Council as early as this fall.
Currently, anyone with Internet access can view inspection results for Dallas’ 6,100 restaurants at the Dallas City Hall Web site. According to city figures, about 80% of the establishments score 90 or above on health inspections.
New rules from the Texas Department of Health include the adding of specialized microwave cooking requirements; changing the temperature for holding potentially hazardous cold foods to 41°F from the current 45°F; marking, labeling or tagging food to show the time it was removed from temperature control to prevent it from sitting out more than four hours; and marking the date on ready-to-eat and potentially hazardous food held more than 24 hours in the refrigerator, among others.
“The Greater Dallas Restaurant Association supports the idea of implementing the Texas State health code into the Dallas health code,” said Exec. Dir. Tracey Evers. “Aligning the two codes should reduce the subjectivity of inspections, thanks to regulations that are standardized at the federal, state and local levels.”
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Indiana To Require Certified Food Handlers On Staff
Indiana’s roughly 20,000 restaurants, grocery stores, vendors and gas stations that sell food will be required to have a certified food handler on staff by Jan. 1, 2005, according the State Department of Health’s Food Protection Program. The rule became effective on June 19, 2003.
Hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living and some mental health facilities are exempt from the law. Businesses that sell prepackaged, unopened foods, pre-cooked hot dogs, nachos, pretzels and frozen pizza are also exempt.
Indiana joins some 18 states in enacting the food-handler certification requirement. To be certified, a food handler must pass a written exam, ideally after taking a training course. Approved exams include the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation’s ServSafe, offered through the Indiana Restaurant and Hospitality Association; Food Safety Manager Certification, from The National Registry of Food Safety Professionals; and Certified Food Manager, from a company called Experior Assessments, to name a few.
Challenges to implementing the program include how local health departments will keep track of the certified food handlers employed at each eatery—especially given the “transient nature” of employees in the foodservice industry.
For an updated list of certification sources and a FAQ page, log onto www.in.gov/isdh and click on the link for “Food Handler Certification.”
NSF Offers Training Course On Restaurant Plan Review
NSF has debuted a training course on Restaurant Plan Review. Plan Review helps regulatory agencies make sure that restaurants are built (or renovated) according to current regulations, and that they eliminate code violations before construction begins. The course will take place Sept. 7-8, 2004, in Indianapolis.
Seminar contents come from the Conference for Food Protection/U.S. Food and Drug Administration Blue Book, and from the FDA’s Plan Review training course, and they fully reflect the current Food Code. Attendees will learn about such topics as the Plan Review application process; regulatory authority compliance; design, installation and construction of a food establishment; compliance with Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points; and a Plan Review outline as it applies to the Food Code. The seminar will be led by Bob Powitz, a registered sanitarian and health director for Westbrook, Conn., and Harry Grenawitzke, also a registered sanitarian, v.p. of the American Academy of Sanitarians, and a past NSF v.p., regulatory affairs.
The course targets foodservice consultants; industry professionals who oversee preparation, design and approval of restaurant plans; sanitarians; and local and state regulatory officials.
Contact CPHE Exec. Dir. Stan Hazen at 800/NSF MARK, ext. 5105, or see www.nsf.org/cphe for more information.
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