Restaurant sinks are not bathtubs
An Ohio man is in hot water for taking a hot bath in a Burger King bathtub. The video shows a man sitting in the sink, while other employees look on laughing. At one point the employee with the camera goes to ask the manager if she wants to come watch. The manager declines, but also fails to take any action. The video was then posted on Myspace. The fast food restaurant has fired all employees involved. They added that the sink was sanitized twice and all utensils were thrown out. Health officials are working with prosecutors to see if charges will be filed. However the health department has declined to issue any fines. If bathing in a kitchen sink isn’t worth a fine, what is?
The video contains some not safe for work language.
Burger King Employee Takes Bath In Sink - Watch more free videos
America's worst bathroom contest
Received an email from a company running a contest for the Scott Paper and White Cloud toilet paper today asking about a previous barfblog post on dirty bathrooms:
We are running an online contest for Scott Paper and White Cloud toiler paper in an effort to find America’s Worst Bathroom. We have been notified by several entrants about an entry with a photo that appeared on your blog. The link to the entry is here. Could you please contact me either via e-mail or; better yet, by phone as soon as possible? I am trying to find out who owns the copyright for the image in question. Did you take the photo? If so, I have to remove this entry and replace it with another. If not, the entry stays in the contest and I don’t have to make any changes.
Sounds like a serious contest. I didn't take the original picture, found it somewhere on the interwebs using Google Image Search (like a lot of the barfblog photos). Go check out the contest and vote for the dirtiest bathroom.
We are running an online contest for Scott Paper and White Cloud toiler paper in an effort to find America’s Worst Bathroom. We have been notified by several entrants about an entry with a photo that appeared on your blog. The link to the entry is here. Could you please contact me either via e-mail or; better yet, by phone as soon as possible? I am trying to find out who owns the copyright for the image in question. Did you take the photo? If so, I have to remove this entry and replace it with another. If not, the entry stays in the contest and I don’t have to make any changes.
Sounds like a serious contest. I didn't take the original picture, found it somewhere on the interwebs using Google Image Search (like a lot of the barfblog photos). Go check out the contest and vote for the dirtiest bathroom.
Dirty drinking glasses in hotel rooms
HealthInspections.com has uncovered yet another television story that has found that the glasses don't get washed.
WCPO in Cincinnati borrowed an idea that was first tried by a Fox television station in Atlanta. They placed hidden cameras into hotel rooms to watch housekeepers in action.
WCPO found that instead of washing the drinking glasses in guest rooms, they're just wiping them off and reusing them. And it's happening at big name hotels such as the Hilton.
In one case, it shows a housekeeper wiping the bathroom floor with a towel then using the same towel to wipe off drinking glasses.
WCPO found glasses being reused at hotel rooms in Ohio, Kentucky, Kansas City, Phoenix, and Baltimore.
WCPO in Cincinnati borrowed an idea that was first tried by a Fox television station in Atlanta. They placed hidden cameras into hotel rooms to watch housekeepers in action.
WCPO found that instead of washing the drinking glasses in guest rooms, they're just wiping them off and reusing them. And it's happening at big name hotels such as the Hilton.
In one case, it shows a housekeeper wiping the bathroom floor with a towel then using the same towel to wipe off drinking glasses.
WCPO found glasses being reused at hotel rooms in Ohio, Kentucky, Kansas City, Phoenix, and Baltimore.
Are bathrooms a good indicator for food safety practices?
I don't believe they are. I think there are lots of food businesses that have spotless toilets and bad food safety practices. Ron Pelger of the Produce News suggests they are a good indicator:
The next time you go into a restaurant, I highly recommend that you visit the restroom first to check out the sanitation conditions of the establishment before ordering and eating your meal. Give it the old once-, twice- and three-times-over inspection. If it passes your examination, the restaurant must have high cleanliness standards.
Really? Pelger sounds pretty trusting. There is some great literature that suggests that inspection scores are not a good indicator of whether a restaurant is going to make someone ill. Should consumers also ask to see the conditions of the bathrooms and port-a-potties on farms and make decisions based on that? I don't think so. I think we should be basing our decisions on what a produce distributor (grower/packer/shipper) can prove about the food safety practices on the farm, not what is possible to clean-up in preparation for a planned audit.
Pelger also writes:
There are many scenarios in the produce industry that can lead to product contamination. Through a sophisticated trace-back process, product can be traced to its original source. In the recent past, foodborne illness outbreaks were linked to spinach, lettuce and tomatoes. These cases have been traced back to their sources and the problems corrected. But what about areas other than farms? Could contamination be happening in other links of the food chain as well?
Pelger is right that food safety is a farm-to-fork, food system issue -- but he unfortunately comes across as whining about how it's not always farms (true) without suggesting how the entire supply chain should get together and address it. If an industry truly believes in the everyone-has-a-role-to-play mantra, they should help their partners (upstream and downstream) in producing safe food. And tell everyone about it.
The next time you go into a restaurant, I highly recommend that you visit the restroom first to check out the sanitation conditions of the establishment before ordering and eating your meal. Give it the old once-, twice- and three-times-over inspection. If it passes your examination, the restaurant must have high cleanliness standards.
Really? Pelger sounds pretty trusting. There is some great literature that suggests that inspection scores are not a good indicator of whether a restaurant is going to make someone ill. Should consumers also ask to see the conditions of the bathrooms and port-a-potties on farms and make decisions based on that? I don't think so. I think we should be basing our decisions on what a produce distributor (grower/packer/shipper) can prove about the food safety practices on the farm, not what is possible to clean-up in preparation for a planned audit.
Pelger also writes:
There are many scenarios in the produce industry that can lead to product contamination. Through a sophisticated trace-back process, product can be traced to its original source. In the recent past, foodborne illness outbreaks were linked to spinach, lettuce and tomatoes. These cases have been traced back to their sources and the problems corrected. But what about areas other than farms? Could contamination be happening in other links of the food chain as well?
Pelger is right that food safety is a farm-to-fork, food system issue -- but he unfortunately comes across as whining about how it's not always farms (true) without suggesting how the entire supply chain should get together and address it. If an industry truly believes in the everyone-has-a-role-to-play mantra, they should help their partners (upstream and downstream) in producing safe food. And tell everyone about it.
New iFSN infosheet -- Dirty Finger Al
One of the best ever monikers in any food safety story came out courtesy of our friends at healthinspection.com. Dirty Finger Al inspired today's infosheet which can be found here.
Dirty Finger Al got his name because he is allegedly “grotesque in his hygiene because of filthy hands and fingers and open, oozing sores while cooking.” And he's a chef. Yum.
Dirty Finger Al got his name because he is allegedly “grotesque in his hygiene because of filthy hands and fingers and open, oozing sores while cooking.” And he's a chef. Yum.
