You’ve found a location, planned the menus, sourced your supplies, and picked the perfect name but there’s still a lot of regulatory hurdles to overcome before you can open your dream restaurant.
Customer exposures to Hepatitis A have seen a major increase throughout the first half of the year, with cases appearing in the US in Arkansas, Indiana, and California as well as other states, resulting in a multi-state outbreak of around 1,200 patients which led to the deaths of at least 40 people. Governing bodies are urging all North American food service workers to ensure that they are vaccinated against the easily transmittable Hepatitis A virus - especially in communities near the infected areas or workers who travel often. Here’s what food service workers and restaurant owners need to know about the relationship between Hepatitis A and the food service industry.
Robyn Goorevitch has been one of our food safety trainers for a number of years. In addition to her work with us, Robyn also runs her own food safety classes for various organizations. In July 2016, Robyn received a cancer diagnosis and was told by her oncologist that all she had to do to ensure that her food was safe was to avoid sushi. She was shocked by this misinformation, since she educates people every day on the food safety steps that have to be taken for high-risk groups - which includes cancer patients. She decided to do something about it by offering food safety classes through Wellspring, a nonprofit organization which exists to help cancer patients and their caregivers, even while battling the disease herself.
Nunavut has set itself apart from Canada’s other provinces and territories by creating its own government-enforced set of food safety guidelines. The guidelines are unique in that they have been created with the intention to protect citizens who are ill or may have compromised immune systems. Here’s what you need to know about country food and Nunavut’s new food safety guidelines.
In a recent CBC report on food safety citations that were handed out in Montreal, language barriers were cited as an obstacle by the head of Montreal’s food inspection department.
In this article, language barriers are cited as a major reason why some food safety citations were handed out in Montreal.
"We have neighbourhoods where we have a challenge, sometimes caused by a language barrier, we have trouble getting our message across," she said, pointing to areas like Parc-Extension, Saint-Laurent, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-Côte-des-Neiges, Chinatown and Verdun. But, in these neighbourhoods, we also have excellent restaurants, impeccable.”
-Myrta Mantzavrakos, head of Montreal food inspection department
Summer cookouts and snacks on day trips go hand-in-hand with the enjoyment of our short Canadian summers. But food can quickly become contaminated with bacteria which causes foodborne illness. The hotter it is, the more exponential the chances are that your hot dogs and hamburgers are ticking disease bombs instead of tasty treats. It is possible to enjoy summer treats safely - it just takes some prep work and extra consideration.
If you run a Canadian restaurant or other foodservice business, complying with the federal Food Retail and Food Services Code (FRFSC) can help you get most of the way to being in compliance with your local food safety regulations.
But it is more helpful to know what the actual requirements and regulations are in your area, since the FRFSC is only a policy guidance document that various provincial and municipal bodies use to form their own food safety and public health regulations.
While many things can make a food safety expert twitch, one thing that will do it every time is saying the word “buffet”. The additional food safety hazards that accompany buffet service are well worth paying attention to. Nobody wants to make guests sick, and disease-causing bacteria have a habit of multiplying exponentially at room temperature once they take root in food.
Summer is right around the corner, and for many areas this brings an army of food trucks rolling out to streets everywhere. It’s important to understand that food trucks must meet the same food safety regulations and expectations as restaurants – especially for food truck operators.
Operating a food truck presents some unique challenges - things like space considerations, cost, and hygiene.