[jess]

:chef:
for my indepent study i am trying to find out
"are food laws strict enough to prevent food poisoning?"
also:
1.what are the food laws?
2. has Garaboldies had an effect on the laws?
3. are the laws too strict?
4. is their a need for the laws

what are your views about the question/s and the main topic if you have any infomation please feel free to wirte about your views on the topic food poisoning please email me or post a message to me
anything will be helpful for my assignment
bounce: what are your views about the question/s and the main topic if you have any infomation please feel free to wirte about your views on the topic food poisoning please email me or post a message to me

 

[kuan]

No, are laws strict enough to prevent armed robbery, murder, domestic abuse?

Kuan

 

[chiffonade]

Food laws are put into place as a preventative measure against large scale outbreaks which would be rampant if it were not for them. However, the practices exercised by individual food establishments are impossible to control 100%.

As for what the food laws are, they vary from state to state. Certain temperature requirements for holding food are pretty standard but there are individual laws and regs that vary.

 

[w.debord]

It seems to me it doesn't really matter what the laws are bcause the most important factor is "are the laws enforced?". This is what people complain about all the time, "do we need more laws?", I think most of of think "no" if we'd just enforce the ones we have things would work.

My personal answer to that question is, "they are monitored slightly, at best and enforced mainly when there is public out cry". The goverment has to spend money to enforce the laws and for the most part we only spend enough to slightly monitor. The goverment seems to have other places it deems more important, to spend it's money (whether you believe that or not).

Thank-goodness most of us are good honest people that care about the well fair of each other. We by law get our sanitation licienses and teach all the people we can what we've learned in the sanitation course. Occasionally screw-ups happen, good people make mistakes and we have out breaks of food poisoning.

Then theres the bad guys out there who need to cut corners to increase their profits and they clearly make choices that risk consumers. That's why we do need strong regulations and laws additional monitoring. These big businesses really control the over all safety of our food supply.

 

[ritafajita]

I think it depends on which laws governing which facet of food production you are talking about as to whether they are strick enough or not. I haven't done much research on this, but it seems to me from tidbits I've seen or read here and there that perhaps meat processing plants don't have strict enough guidelines. The E Coli that can get in ground beef has to do with the way the beef is handled at the plant. It comes to the restaurant already infected. Then the responsibility is on the restaurant to worry about not getting it on the watermelon or not undercooking it. I'm pratically obsessive compulsive about sanitation at my place, and I believe I have a responsibility to help keep the public healthy. But sometimes I resent that I have to be so careful because of someone else's (the meat packing plant) carelessness.

As far as Health Dept. regs governing food service establishments, I think the laws themselves are adequate in my state. But enforcing them is another story. For one thing, it seems that the health inspectors interpret them differently from one another and from establishment to establishment. Sometimes they are not reasonable people. I just got a new inspector last winter, and he is a sh** head! Despite the fact that my obviously immaculate kitchen is so bright we refer to it as the "interrogation room" he marked us off 3 points in lightbulb violations. He also said one of my employees' hair was not properly restrained (in a tight braid). I called his boss on that one, who agreed that I should not have been marked off for it. He went on and on with these pointless nit-picky violations until he'd racked up 15 points worth of them, giving us an 85 (down from a 94!) with no critical violations at all. This really, really nasty restaurant I used to work at got higher than an 85! It was ridiculous. He was just on a power trip- probably because he has no life and women don't find him attractive.

I've also seen restaurants, like the nasty one I mentioned, that only see the regs as useful when they start thinking, "Hey, isn't it about time for that health guy to show up again? Better get the power tools out of the hand sink and store them somewhere else for awhile 'til things cool off." People who don't see the laws as serving any useful purpose other than keeping themselves out of trouble around inspection time aren't helping keep the public safe.

Its funny, because I used to be a real libertarian about this - you know, the less regulation the better. Not anymore!

Forgive me, what's Garaboldies?

RF

 

[nick.shu]

jess, there is new legislation for controlling the potential for food poisoning in Aus. This legislation in the pipeline follows on from current Victorian legislation which is going to be introduced nationwide shortly. The onus is on the employer to ensure each and every staff handling food in a commercial situation is at least suitably trained in the areas of hygiene, food handling and storage and to also be aware of HACCP procedures.

The best way to check on these new arrangements is to either contact ANZFA or your local council (as they are responsible for ensuring food safety on behalf of the govt) and to read the relevant food act as applicable in your state.

As for Garabaldi, (a relatively well publised South Au food poisoning incident) i wouldnt really know. Another place to find some info may be in Austlii legal database, as any compensation case in that state (under the SA supreme court) could well of been reported.

As for food handling and/or related legislation, case laws or whatnot, there usually is a good reason for that law. With exception to those laws made as a knee jerk reaction, most of the laws are fairly well researched (even though they can be exceedingly technical) and are made with an intention to prevent circumstances from occuring.

 

[ritafajita]

Thanks for the spelling correction. I put "Garaboldies" into a search engine before, and I got no hits. With your spelling of the word, I got a link to an article which I am now going to go read...
RF

 

[jim berman]

There are some great web-based resources for your information.
Check out www.usda.gov as well as their link to the FSIS (Food Safety Information Service) which has a wealth of information relating to product recalls. Very informative reading. Lastly, there are several universities that have cooperative education extensions that assist the coutnies in which they resides with Food code development & enforcement; those sites are also paired up with the USDA.
Good luck.

 

[jess]

Thanks for all the infomation and views so far it has been helpful if you have any more information and views on the topic please leave a reply or email me

thanks jess