Be Proactive and Don’t End Up in Food Safety Jail!
Ok, I admit – there really is no food safety jail. But there is jail and, while it is uncommon, you can be sent there for not practicing food safety. Just the other day, I ran across a news report about two individuals in Wales who were sent to jail (albeit a suspended sentence) for “failing to take action to protect food from the risk of contamination; placing unsafe food on the market; failing to comply with a Remedial Action Notice and operating the business without approval after permission to supply seafood was suspended.”
You might be thinking to yourself that this took place in Wales, and you wouldn’t go to jail in the United States for a food safety violation. While you would be partially correct that you might not go to jail for one violation, for failing to act to prevent unsafe conditions you most certainly could.
Take for example United States v. DeCoster – 828 F.3d 626 (8th Cir. 2016), where Austin and Peter DeCoster (father and son) pled guilty to misdemeanor violations of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act for selling adulterated eggs into interstate commerce. The eggs were found to be infected with salmonella enteritidis and caused almost 2000 consumer illnesses across the US in the summer of 2010. In the end, a million eggs were recalled. In this example, it was clear the company was placing profits over the welfare of customers.
… the fact remains that even without legal fines and possibly jail time, consequences can be devastating if a foodservice operation is involved in an outbreak.
You might recall the Listeria monocytogenes outbreak involving cantaloupe in the fall of 2011. The owners, Eric and Ryan Jensen, were charged with unknowingly introducing adulterated cantaloupe into interstate commerce. In the end, over 147 people fell ill, killing 33 individuals across 28 different states. They faced a sentence of over six years in jail and over $1.5 million in fines. They ultimately avoided a jail sentence by pleading guilty and were sentenced to five years of probation, and were ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution, complete 100 hours of community service, and were sentenced to six months of home detention.
Yes, it is true that none of these cases involve food service operations, but it doesn’t mean that it could not happen. The practice of holding business owners accountable for the wrongful acts of their employees, even criminally, seems to be occurring more and more often. The Department of Justice implemented a policy in 2015 to hold individuals responsible for corporate wrongdoing.
While the policy memorandum did point out several challenges to pursuing such accountability, it did note, “one of the most effective ways to combat corporate misconduct is by seeking
accountability from the individuals who perpetrated the wrongdoing. Such accountability is important for several reasons: it deters future illegal activity; it incentivizes changes in corporate behavior, it ensures that the proper parties are held responsible for their actions, and it promotes the public’s confidence in our justice system.”
While there are several restaurants that have handled a large-scale foodborne illness outbreak and have not gone bankrupt, including Jack in the Box, Chipotle, and Taco Bell, the fact remains that even without legal fines and possibly jail time, consequences can be devastating if a foodservice operation is involved in an outbreak. Plunging sales, product liability lawsuits, and government fines can all take a heavy toll on operators faced with such an outbreak.
In the end, it is vital that you are keeping an eye on your employee food safety practices, making sure corners are not being cut, ensuring employees receive the proper training to prevent outbreaks and protect the public, and keeping up with recent advances in food safety.
As we turn the corner to spring, before the busy summer season comes along, take the opportunity now to make sure your staff training is up to date. Use this time to refocus on operations before this summer rolls out.
If you are looking for a way to keep up to date with the latest in food safety, we have you covered. Check out our SafeBites webinars, including a recent webinar on the 2022 food code changes. We have an exciting set of webinars planned for the rest of the year. In the meantime, if you have any food safety questions, we are a quick email away and would be happy to assist. Risk Nothing.
READ MORE POSTS
Developing Good Food Safety Habits
Good habits and habit development are something that has fascinated me for several years. If you’ve attended any the training programs or presentations that my colleagues and I have conducted through our Center for Food Safety in Child Nutrition Programs, you’ve likely heard me opine about the importance of habits and how habits are created. Many times, in foodservice operations we wonder why our staff don’t follow the food safety practices we have established in our operation. Perhaps they don’t wash their hands when they are required, perhaps they just don’t use the proper method of handwashing, or perhaps we find that they don’t complete our HACCP logs as often as our program dictates should occur. And while we can stomp our feet and say “it is their job, they should just do it”, it really isn’t that simple. We can’t order people to change, although if we could, business and human resources would be so much simpler.
Getting Your Playbook for Food Safety Organized
As anyone who has ever worked in a foodservice operation knows, from the time food is received in your establishment to the time it is served to your customers, following proper food safety practices is crucial. What many don’t often think about is this time really should extend from the time the manager places their orders with their suppliers (including which purveyors you utilize), through the time the food is consumed – even if that consumption occurs off your premises and days after the original order was picked up by the guest. This is something that has certainly been highlighted by the pandemic as customers across the nation are utilizing take-out, curbside to go, and third-party delivery options more so now than ever before.
Getting Started with Building the Infrastructure
Hopefully in our first January blog, we convinced you of the importance of establishing an infrastructure within your operation to support a safe food culture. So, how does one go about doing this? Well, like any major project, break it into small bites. In our opinion, having a written guide for employees that documents expectations related to food safety basics of employee health and hygiene, temperature controls, and cleaning and sanitizing is the first step. Having this documentation serves as a reference for training and helps fulfill the mission of most foodservice operators which is to serve safe, quality food.
Food Safety Resolutions for the New Year
Finally, 2020 is in our rearview mirror and we can all turn the page to 2021! Resolutions for the new year might be more of the same from prior years (lose weight, exercise more, less screen time, etc.) OR you may have identified new practices to implement in your operation. If the latter, likely goals included some practices related to food safety – especially given the turmoil of 2020 and heightened concern by customers. It is our philosophy that attention to safe food handling practices is a win-win for any operation because of the direct relationship between food safety and food quality, which in turn leads to customer satisfaction. This past year has also demonstrated that attention to safety can affect the bottom line. Thus, the topic of our first SafeBites webinar for 2021 is on the topic of the return on investment of food safety, it is scheduled for January 20, so register now and please plan to attend.
