Food safety needs to be a priority

There is a hunger growing in people’s bellies, but it isn’t for plentiful portions of nourishing food. It’s an increasing appetite for safe food.

The recipe is surprising, yet simple: mandatory food safety training for food handlers.

Who can blame us? There has been much shared on social media the past couple of weeks regarding extreme food safety incidents locally. I think many of us can relate.

I had an unfortunate experience of being pregnant and served raw cod at a local fine dining establishment. I didn’t take it to the media until now, and I wonder how many of us who have had scary unsafe food experiences are really out there?

Truth be told, I’m glad food safety is getting attention. There’s always talk of us being a “have” province, but we’re “have not” when it comes to food safety and, more specifically, food handler training.

Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and the Northwest Territories all have provincial or municipal laws requiring that people handling food be trained.

It’s usually something along the lines of operators being required by law to schedule at least one manager/supervisor who holds valid certification of successful completion of a recognized food safety training program, or in the absence of the operator, the operator must ensure that at least one employee holds valid certification. Here, we have no such thing.

Newfoundland and Labrador has a food safety recognition program, which is a voluntary program where the Department of Health and Community Services recognizes food establishments in the province “that go beyond the minimum standards to ensure they are providing safe food to their customers.”

The voluntary program for managers requires that the owner/operator has completed a recognized course and that a minimum of one food handler per shift has completed a recognized course in food safety, both within the past five years.

Food premises that apply for and meet all of the criteria will receive a “Food Safety Served Here” certificate and will have their business name and website link posted online.

I won’t post the link here, as it’s rather long, but I have visited the site, and the following food service establishments have shown the department that they have met all of the criteria: the College of the North Atlantic cafeteria in Burin and Cull’s Grocery in Joe Batt’s Arm.

I’m not suggesting that no one who works in the food service industry in the province is aware of safe food handling. People may be very aware, but there are likely others who are unaware.

It only takes a bite of unsafe food for someone to get sick, and it can even cost people their lives. Our voluntary program is a good start, but let’s see it become legislation and, like most other provinces, we should have mandatory, not voluntary, food safety training for food handlers. Access to safe food is a basic human right.

If food safety is important to you there are a couple things you can do. Become a proactive citizen and speak out. Get involved with the St. John’s Food Policy Council (www.sjfpc.ca), a new group approaching policy and planning that brings all parts and players of the food system together to enhance the cultural, financial, social and environmental sustainability of the St. John’s region.

If and when you do eat out, don’t be afraid to ask about the food safety training and practices of that particular establishment.

You can also speak to your MHA and /or the minister of health. Leverage the issue of local food safety and enforce the need to make food handler training mandatory in the province.