The Fat Duck Cookbook has no suggestions on how to avoid norovirus and barfing on expensive food
A review of Heston Blumenthal’s, The Fat Duck Cookbook, appeared in this morning’s edition of the U.K. Independent newspaper.
Among the highlights:
“Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck Cookbook is presumably intended as a souvenir for those who have laid out £130 on the Tasting Menu at Blumenthal's Fat Duck restaurant in Bray. At least it will give them a lasting memory of the meal. From several Fat Duck customers, I have heard complaints that they were far from replete after the experience. Though it is called a cookbook, scarcely anyone will ever cook from this volume. Many dishes call for specialist equipment and recondite ingredients. A dessert called Lime Grove requires liquid nitrogen, a Dewar flask, malic acid and high methoxyl confectioner's pectin. Even the simpler dishes call for more time and application than anyone but an extreme culinary obsessive will want to spend. “
No mention in the review or the book about how to control the spread of norovirus in an upscale restaurant. Fortunately, the U.K. Health Protection Agency has published some suggestions.
Celebrity chef dumbass: Fat Duck felled by norovirus in raw oysters; 'weaknesses in procedures - delayed response to incident'
Chapman occasionally comes up with a good line. Usually, I do all the work on a piece (at least in my mind), and he’ll put in one sentence, but it will be the one that is remembered.
Why didn’t I think of that?
Chapman described celebrity chef and molecular gastrologest Heston Blumenthal (below, right) as the love child of Alton Brown and longtime Toronto Maple Leaf hockey player Mats Sundin (right).
Why didn’t I think of that.
Blumenthal’s Fat Duck restaurant – which is consistently rated as the best in the U.K. – was the source of over 500 illnesses in early 2009. At the time, Blumenthal said, “tests for viral infections and food poisoning have proved negative and there is speculation that the winter outbreak of norovirus could be the real reason why they became sick.”
Way to blame the consumer, those paying hundreds of pounds for the privilege of barfing.
The U.K. Health Protection Agency published a report on the outbreak today that concluded:
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* There was a large outbreak of food poisoning among diners at the Fat Duck Restaurant in January and February 2009, with more than 500 reporting illness - over 15% of those dining there during this period
* The organism responsible was norovirus which was probably introduced via shellfish (more diners who ate shellfish dishes reported illness). Oysters were served raw; razor clams may not have been appropriately handled or cooked; tracing of shellfish to source showed evidence of contamination and there have been reports of illness in other establishments associated with oysters from the same source
* The outbreak continued for at least six weeks (between January 6 and February 22) because of ongoing transmission at the restaurant - which may have occurred through continuous contamination of foods prepared in the restaurant or by person-to-person spread between staff and diners or a mixture of both
* Several weaknesses in procedures at the restaurant may have contributed to ongoing transmission including: delayed response to the incident; staff working when they should have been off sick and using the wrong environmental cleaning products
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* Delays in notification of illness may have affected the ability of the investigation to identify the exact reason for the norovirus contamination
It’s the chef’s responsibility to source food from safe sources. And if the chef thinks raw shellfish is a smart thing to serve, and to have sick workers working, then, customers get what they pay for.
Duck and Cover: It's Food Safety Education Month
Watching the pronouncements and proclamations for Food Safety Education month makes me think about kids in the 1950s getting educated about nuclear bombs: Duck, Cover and Roll.
In the film, below, substitute foodborne illness for atomic bomb, and substitute consumers have a role, for duck, cover and roll.
In a month of foodborne illness, the signal of impending doom is not an air raid siren, but more likely explosive diarrhea; you might even be out playing when it comes.
The advice in Duck and Cover is as useful in protecting against radiation as the advice from various government, industry and advocacy types is in preventing foodborne illness.
Could video games be a key to food handler training effectiveness?
Food handler training, required or encouraged in various jurisdictions across North America has been demonstrated by multiple studies to have various results. Most of the published research has focused on looking at inspection results, but in 2000, researchers in Oregon (April 2009 issue of Foodborne Pathogens and Disease) explored food handler food safety knowledge.
During April–September 2000 researchers administered a 28- question survey distilled from a longer 
survey obtained from the Oregon Food Handler Certification Program with 407 food handlers from 67 randomly-selected restaurants.The researchers found that their participants averaged 68% on the test. Significant differences were observed between managers’ average test scores and those of line staff: 74% versus 67%, respectively, and those with Oregon food handler training scored 69%, while those without one scored 63%.
Meatloaf sang that two out of three ain't bad, but in food safety training, retention-wise, it's not great.
The researchers conclude that survey demonstrates a limited level of knowledge among foodhandlers about food safety and that analyzing knowledge and comparing concurrent restaurant inspection scores would strengthen the understanding of food safety in restaurants. The results of the survey also emphasize the need for educational programs tailored to improve foodhandlers knowledge of foodborne diseases.
I'd add that it's not like knowledge translates automatically into practice. Demonstrating knowledge change is interesting, but not nearly as important as behavior change.
Food handlers need some sort of basic training, but it's up to their managers and organization to make sure they stay up-to-date and that they have some sort of ongoing reminders (like food safety infosheets.
Reuters reports on a strategy for training that might have some applications with food handlers -- video game simulations.
Many businesses use serious videogames designed for the PC but Hilton Garden Inn (HGI) has taken the virtual training concept portable for the first time with "Ultimate Team Play".
Working with North Carolina-based game developer Virtual Heroes, HGI has created a videogame for Sony's PSP (PlayStation Portable) that allows employees to practice their jobs before they have to interact with customers.
It has the potential to be pretty cool and useful especially if used to demonstrate the team-like nature of foodservice and risk identification, but if it's pulled off cheaply it could look like Duck Hunt.
Stick a thermometer in cheap, stinky meat
The quest for discounted groceries has hit the news again with South Carolina news reporter Larry Collins asking,
“Stores slash prices about 50% - 60% on meat when it is nearing the date on the packaging. But, is that food safe to eat?”
According to registered dietitian Charlotte Caperton-Kilburn, such meat is typically safe to consume as long as you cook or freeze it as soon as you bring it home… and it smells okay.
“If the meat smells even remotely strange it should be returned to the store or thrown away,” Caperton-Kilburn told the news station.
In Ireland, Darina Allen wrote in an opinion piece for the Irish Examiner that, just the other night, she found a vac-packed duck in the back of her fridge that smelled “good and high.” Rather than throw it out, she “gave it a good wash inside and out and rubbed a bit of salt into the skin and roasted it.”
Her guests said it was delicious.
Allen reminisced about life before modern conveniences like electric refrigeration and explained, “We learned from our mothers how to judge with our senses whether food was safe.” She asserted that, “in just a few years, many people have lost the ability to judge for themselves when food is safe to eat.”
While most groceries sold in the US have a date consumers can read and use, the USDA only requires manufacturers of infant formula and baby food to determine and display a “Use by” date on their products—and this is mainly for the sake of ensuring nutrient quality. The others are voluntary and only describe when the food will probably taste best. Assessing safety is still up to the consumer.
Modern technologies like stamped dates and color-changing barcodes can help consumers with that assessment, as can the senses of sight and smell. The most reliable safeguard, though, is cooking to a temperature that studies have found will effectively kill pathogens. For poultry, this is 165F.
Chefs may tell you to use your senses to figure temperature, too, but only by using a tip-sensitive digital thermometer can you know for sure. It’s the consumer’s choice, as always, but I’d rather be sure than be positive for salmonella.
Take care of your patrons, especially at £340
I've been following food porn backlash in the UK as a result of an outbreak of something at quasi-celebrity Heston Blumenthal's restaurant, the Fat Duck. Today Cold Mud picked up a blog post from one of the walking wounded who experienced “two weeks of serious unpleasantness”.
The poster writes:
“The only things that felt a bit dodgy on the way down were the oysters. Neither of us is a huge fan, but we both ate them because we were determined not to miss out on anything. Anyway, we were eating in one of the most famous restaurants in the world so we were confident that there wouldn't be anything wrong with them."
I especially love this quote; it demonstrates the power of trust in food sources -- this guy is famous, I have a personal connection, I don't want to miss out, he wouldn't make me sick.
At the end of the post, the author discusses the lack of communication between the Fat Duck and ill patrons, and here's where it all goes really wrong for me:
“The next day I went onto the Fat Duck website and sent them an email. At that point the news bulletins were saying that 40 or so diners had been affected and I wrote something to the effect of: 'This has happened to us as well. We loved the meal and we’re not angry but count us among the walking wounded and let us know what's happening.’
“We received no reply so I wrote quite a long letter. I haven’t received a reply to that either. I’m appalled because I was so entranced by Heston Blumenthal and he comes across as being very decent and clever. We had been so ill and, at the very least, we expected some kind of acknowledgment. We really thought they would be interested in what had happened to us."
Dude, Captain Food Porn Blumenthal, you need to respond to patrons who got sick at your restaurant. It doesn't matter whether contamination occurred in your restaurant, or if it was something contaminated prior to its arrival (Those dodgy oysters? Fresh sprouts? Whatever). You are the face and brand associated with that meal. You have folks reaching out to you for info, or just to let you know what happened to them, you need to acknowledge it. Tell them what you are doing to find out what happened, and how you manage food safety in your organization -- especially how you assess safe suppliers.
In last week's food safety infosheet (you can download it here) we focused on the fallout of a Staphylococcus aureus outbreak associated with baked hams in Kentucky -- a 72-year-old man died and a wrongful death suit has been filed against the operator. Outbreaks like this one, and the Fat Duck happen all the time. It is on operators to be proactively identify risks with their products, address them and prepare for when things go wrong. And answer emails from ill patrons. And post something on your website about the outbreak -- have that stuff ready to go, because it's one of the first places people will be looking.
