Chips on his shoulders Who is being protected here?
Daniel Boulud is a name you’re probably not familiar with but believe me when I tell you that You’ve got a lot in common with this guy and by the end of this page, you’ll probably have some sympathy for him too…
Dan owns a bistro somewhere in Middle America
that had a decent reputation for a $30 plate of coq au vin. In February 2015 however, a customer named Barry ate a 1inch metal bristle that had come from a wire brush used to clean Dan’s Chargrill. Barry sued Dan and was awarded 1.3 Million dollars in damages this month. The court ruled that because Dan had no policies, procedures, oversight or anything to prevent this from happening and that wire brushes were now unacceptable to use anywhere near food. Prior to Dan’s demise who knew that wire brushes weren’t suitable to clean chargrills with? If I owned a wire brush factory right now, I would be cancelling Christmas. The fine imposed was also described as a message to all caterers. Consider now that you have a chipper, a rumbler, wire meshes to sieve your pans, lifters to take out chips or fish or baskets to cook your scampi in. Consider now then your safer food better business packs that your local authority insists that you fill out and ask yourself this one simple question… Does it go far enough? 1 - Does it go far enough to protect the public? 2 - Does it go far enough to protect you as an operator? 3 - Does it go far enough to protect the Authority that imposed it to adhere to central government policy? The answer of course is number 3. The local authority EHO is the law. It sets the standards that award 5 stars. It determines when contraventions have occurred and it meters out enforcement action when it sees fit to achieve compliance. But does it go far enough? It’s been suggested to me many times that every local authority has a different interpretation of Central government policy and that applying that
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interpretation means that what is acceptable to one authority for 5 stars may only earn you a 3 somewhere else. It has also been the popular opinion that as long as you can demonstrate a paper evidence trail, the reality of what is happening in shops can often be unchecked for years at a time. Surely this system makes the authority look like it’s doing a satisfactory job of monitoring because it has documentary evidence but is it really looking after the interests of the public or assisting operators to raise standards and improve working practices? The real sucker punch as Dan’s story teaches us is that the current system isn’t either a level playing field or in the best interests of consumers or operators. Even if you’ve got charts and graphs to back you up, inspection schedules, maintenance contracts, documented periodical testing and everything is date labeled and you’ve been doing all the hard work to make the authorities look like they’re policing you well, if you happen to have a chipper blade snap off or some grit stick in a spud or one piece of pea gravel in your mushy peas or part of your scampi basket end up in the back of someone throat, The EHO has the power to move the goal posts and will not accept that you’ve actually been super diligent and a good operator. In fact just like in Dans case, they may still find you negligent rather than unlucky and might choose to make an example of you but then again they may not. It’s all just a bit of a lottery. A fish and chip shop menu has to be fairly low risk in terms of food poisoning as everything gets sterilized at 170 degrees Celsius for a good five minutes. Good practices and infrastructure have to be the highest risk factors and areas that need to be regularly assessed and developed and most good operators would welcome open dialogue and a supportive working relationship with their EHO if it were available. This kind of approach married to more regular meetings and inspections would surely see standards improve faster than the annual fisting most authorities currently serve up along with their little white folders. It’s life or death to the public, livelihood, reputation and liberty to you and me but just a 9-5 job to them. Let the editor know your thoughts Athol@fastfoodpro.com Lambros Llamedos.