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Tuesday, February 17, 2009
HEFG Southeastern Hospitality Expo 2009
After dealing with the ongoing nightmare that the PCA peanut recall
has become, it is nice to be able to shift gears onto something much more positive; The Hospitality Education Foundation of
Georgia (HEFG) career expo.
This year’s
event was held at the Georgia World Congress Center on February 13th, 2009. The expo gives high school students
who are interested in culinary or hospitality careers unprecedented access to chefs, culinary schools, distributors, equipment
vendors, and food safety professionals, all under one roof. For the 5th straight year, the staff of LMSC,
Inc had the pleasure of sponsoring an informational table and spent the day talking with the students and their instructors
about the varied career opportunities that exist. While many of these kids dream of becoming the next celebrity chef,
most of them will follow a less glamorous career path. These are the future corporate chefs, health inspectors, restaurant
managers and owners; perhaps even the next Food Network commercial star. Whatever their future holds, we were proud
to be a part of their education, if even for only one day. For further information about the HEFG, visit their website
at www.hefg.org .
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
House Bill 759
H.R. 759 was introduced into the House of Representatives on January
28, 2009 under the title; To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to improve the safety of food, drugs, devices,
and cosmetics in the global market, and for other purposes.
This bill represents the new congress’ first attempt
to overhaul the U.S. Food Safety system. Among the initial findings, there is an increased emphasis on
risk-based hazards. That is, controlling the hazards/contaminants that are most likely to be present AND have the highest
health risk. Along with greater monitoring and reporting responsibilities for the manufacturer, HR759
includes language for risk-based inspection services.
Plants that manufacture or process potentially
hazardous foods (PHF) would face increased inspection frequencies, whereas non-PHF foods may see a decrease in frequency.
In theory, the net number of inspections would remain the same, although we would predict an actual increase in the workload
and number of inspectors needed to complete a more thorough audit of the PHF facilities.
While we like the scope of the bill overall, we must take a “wait and see” approach on its
passage. If history is any indicator, the public outcry to take action will fade along with our collective
memory of the most recent food crisis and this particular bill will die in committee. Like the Phoenix, it will be resurrected
only after the next major foodborne illness outbreak.
11:04 am
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