What’s in a Grade? Reporting on Report Cards

KitchenBitch salutes Mayor Bloomberg for finally implementing the long overdue restaurant grading system but, while the FDA and USDA continue to rule with a snap bracelet (the first step toward a big stick is the Food Modernization Act which still remains stalwart in the Senate—they must all be Jewish and observing the high holidays), questions surrounding the simplicity of reporting over precision remain a hot topic.

The proverbial A-F grading system classically demonstrates achievement or failure in shades of grey in a way everyone can relate to. But is this enough? Regardless of how health conscious New Yorkers may claim to be, many are too busy (read: lazy) to scour the NYCDHMH’s website for restaurant inspection results and decipher the consumer unfriendly yet more descriptive points system (health and safety violations earn a restaurant points so less is better).

The New York City chapter of the New York State Restaurant Association believes a restaurant can be deemed safe enough solely based upon a pass/fail system.

“We feel a restaurant is either sanitary enough to serve the public, or it is not, and if it is not, action should be taken,” says Andrew Rigie, director of operations for the New York City chapter of the New York State Restaurant Association.

What if we put educating our nation’s children on the same scale? Where’s the incentive to strive for an “A”? Is the safety of the food we eat not as important to be graded on a higher level? Mr. Rigie must have never read Kitchen Confidential, one of many books, articles and documentaries chronicling the disdainful practices of some of our coveted eateries.

The current points system, which is used to derive the letter grades, should be plastered on the front door of every restaurant over its much simpler and sometimes misleading alphabetic counterpart. This gives knowledgeable power to the consumer to know what’s up and make an educated choice.

KitchenBitch is on a mission: to garner the same fervor for food safety among New Yorkers as is generated Yelping around for the latest hip, delicious restaurant where a drugged up celebutante was spotted “eating” at last Thursday.

The FDA Officially Did Nothing With Our Tax Dollars

Unacceptable doesn’t begin to describe it. Not only didn’t they check all food manufacturers that boast an FDA seal of approval, some went un-inspected for years. I have no witty introduction for this one, it’s a perfect representation of how the FDA has completely failed the American people.

“The drop in inspections could make an outbreak of foodborne disease more likely, putting the public at risk, according to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general.

A shrinking workforce at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is responsible for much of the drop in the number of facilities inspected, including those deemed high risk by the agency, the report said.

FDA can assign a facility with the most serious food safety or regulatory infractions an official action indicated (OAI) classification, which warrants agency action to ensure the violation is fixed. But FDA took no regulatory action against 25 percent of facilities it assigned an OAI classification in fiscal 2007, the report said.

Additionally, 36 percent of facilities with an OAI classification did not receive any follow up from FDA to ensure the violations were corrected.”

Good to know our tax dollars were funding the diligent work of the few FDA officials.. who clearly spent that $2.4 billion budget they requested in 2009 (a 5.7 percent increase from fiscal 2008) on sun bathing at their vacation homes in Boca.

The Food Safety Modernization Act, which would solve all of these problems, passed in the House in November.. And the Senate continues to hit the snooze button. How many major recalls and deaths does it take for the Senate to get their act together? Too many and counting..

Criticize and You Shall Receive

The guessing game as to which food product will be recalled next will soon become much easier to play. The FDA finally realized that creating a website and updating the information on it daily is so easy nowadays that a monkey—or a behind the times governmental agency that oversees the food and drug industries—could do it.

The new addition to their website is part of a rebranding effort by the FDA to make themselves more available to the general public (something that hasn’t been the case despite the fact that, ironically, they are a governmental organization, all of which exist to help the general public). The organization’s critics have said for years that the organization is too slow to report recalls and disclose drug safety issues.

The day has come where it behooves you to regularly check the FDA Basics at www.fda.gov.

Holiday Leftovers and You

During the season of overcooking, over buttering, and overeating, we still end up with a lot of leftovers in the fridge from mom’s famous butternut squash soup to the 16th turkey to make it to your fridge since Thanksgiving.

In the spirit of not getting sick during the Holidays (you want all of your energy for the Feats of Strength at tomorrow’s Festivus celebration), here are a few tips on how to keep those leftovers fresh and safe to overeat the next day:

Storage:

-Store leftovers within 2 hours of cooking to avoid bacterial contamination.

-Cold food should be stored in the freezer at 40 degrees F or cooler.

-ALWAYS allow hot food to cool at room temperature for 30 minutes before placing into refrigerator.

Refrigerator Lifespans:

-Turkey: 3 to 4 days
-Stuffing/Gravy: 1 to 2 days
-Frozen Leftovers: Eat within 4 days of thawing

Reheating:

-Solid leftovers should be reheated to 160 degrees F; sauces, gravies, etc. should be reheated to a rolling boil.

-If something was reheated and not eaten, throw it out.

Happy Holidays!

What You Wish You Didn’t Know About Restaurants

It’s like watching a scary movie. You’re hands cover your face but your fingers are just slightly separated because you can’t look away from the horror in front of you. Brace yourself because Reader’s Digest released not one but two articles that cover restaurant tips, tricks, and painfuly true food handling practices that will make you think twice next time you dine out.

Some of my personal (un)favorites:

“At a lot of restaurants, the special is whatever they need to sell before it goes bad. Especially watch out for the soup of the day. If it contains fish or if it’s some kind of “gumbo,” it’s probably the stuff they’re trying to get rid of.”
And they jack up the price 1.5 times the most expensive item to drive this point home, how clever.

“Now that I’ve worked in a restaurant, I never ask for lemon in a drink. Everybody touches them. Nobody washes them. We just peel the stickers off, cut them up, and throw them in your iced tea.”
Don’t let the citrus from the lemon fool you into thinking that most viruses and bacteria are still killed off, consider this their breeding ground.

They direct you to their website for a reason.
“If you ask me how many calories are in a particular dish, I’m not allowed to tell you even if I know. I’m supposed to say, ‘All that information is available online.’”
And here we were fooling ourselves, indulging in Houston’s spinach and artichoke dip, blissfully ignorant to the idea that the waitress didn’t give you the calorie count when you ordered it since you probably would need to take 6 Lipitor afterward.

“Some places buy salad dressings in one-gallon jars, then add a few ingredients, like a blue cheese crumble or fresh herbs, and call it homemade on the menu.”
Similar situation with the homemade cookies you bring to your office during the holidays and secretly bless the spirit of Nestlé Tollhouse for their buttery goodness.

“Even at the best breakfast buffet in the world, 99 times out of 100, the big pan of scrambled eggs is made from a powder.”
That’s very upsetting, so much for the power breakfast.

For another helping of the cringe-fest, click here.

No Research on Anything to Make an Informed Decision About Everything

As much as we wish foodbourne illnesses were easy to detect—given that food is a vital part of our existence—nobody really knows the extent of foodbourne illnesses and what long term effects it might cause. Why is this? Because even though such an important issue that affects everyone across the country, regardless of race, religion or social status, should be properly reported, have adequate research and follow up at the very least, it turns out it doesn’t. The government dropped the ball again, shocker.

The FDA called a meeting earlier this month on how they can improve their food traceability systems and the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) has released a report that covers how to trace foodbourne illnesses, how to reduce then, and the best ways to pinpoint the source of contamination along the supply chain.

Considering that nobody, not the food manufactures, the raw food suppliers, farmers, nor the governing bodies (FDA and USDA), had any idea until now how to accurately pinpoint the source of a contamination without causing a panic among consumers is upsetting extraordinarily absurd. Dependable research is an extremely overdue baby step but, nonetheless, still a very big step toward our peace of mind. Until then, stock up on Pepto Bismol.

An Organic Preservative: The Vegan Tree-Hugger Story

Your favorite leave you with a headache and only smelling like Mountain Fresh scent for 2 days household cleaning products may soon have a new competitor. Biosecur, an organic, broad spectrum preservative and disinfectant, has received official certification from the USDA, National Organic Program, and Ecocert, an organic control and certification group.

Who came up with it? America’s hat, the Canadians. It’s derived from 100% organic citrus fruit, kills bacteria in 30 seconds with just a 0.5 to 2% concentration, and can also replace harmful food additives used in food production that we know and love to read on the side of a box such as sodium nitrate (typically found in processed meats) and potassium metabisulphite (most common use is to help maintain color and flavor of wine). Not only will the counters we prepare food on be safer, disinfectants and preservatives used on fresh and processed food before retail distribution will be healthier to consume as well.

Be on the lookout for some green-tinted Biosecur concoction fashioning a Clorox sticker and proudly overpriced at the local Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s in the not-so-distant future.

Food Safety Laws Looking to Leave Stone Age Regulations – Might Actually Enter the 21st Century

The FDA’s traditional food safety awareness method of wait-for-mini-epidemic-of-deadly-(insert desired food product here)-contamination for them to warn the public might soon be a thing of the past. Complete overhaul could be in the future if the Senate passes the Food Safety Modernization Act, thanks to a push from the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

In a nutshell (peanut recall pun intended), a recent CSPI report lists the following as the Top 10 most dangerous foods (safety wise):

Leafy Greens, Eggs, Tuna, Oysters, Potatoes, Cheese, Ice Cream, Tomatoes, Sprouts, and Berries.

Since every one of us can find at least 6 of these foods presently in our refrigerators, updated safety guidelines and practices set by the FDA are a must.

Frequent contamination and recalls have been begging the FDA to revamp their ancient order of industry self-regulation. That means that the FDA lets food giants do the inspections themselves and trusts that they will be honest. Because we’re supposed to trust the food we feed our families, our loved ones, and ourselves everyday to multi-billion dollar corporations that have historically prided themselves on safe products for consumers over their bottom dollar.

A private organization’s interests lie with its board members and shareholders. A public organization’s interests lie with the American people. The purpose of a federal organization in charge of regulating produce, seafood, egg and dairy products, as well as typical packaged foods such as cookie dough and peanut butter, is to do the dirty work themselves.

E.Coli—It’s What’s For Dinner

The game of food safety is a risky balance of luck and knowledge. Unfortunately, it takes many years of large-scale contaminations and tragic deaths/illnesses to get the proper regulation ball rolling.

Prohibition of the sale of E.coli tainted meat started after 4 children died in 1994 from contaminated burgers from Jack in the Box. I couldn’t even conjure up a creative idea as to why tainted meat was approved for sale before then.

An article in the NY Times chronicles a 22-year-old dancer teacher’s E.coli contamination from a backyard BBQ hamburger patty, causing seizures, a coma, and ultimately paralysis from the waist down, and ties it into the government’s lax beef inspection policies.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/health/04meat.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=e.%20coli&st=cse

The most common food you can catch E.coli from: ground beef. And it’s not just a cut of meat from one cow run through a grinder. That savory beef patty is actually made up of different grades of meat, different parts of the cow, even different slaughterhouses and up to 30% fat trimmings, according to USDA standards.

Combining different sources into a clump—surprise, surprise—saves money. In fact, Cargill, the food giant responsible for the contaminated hamburger patty that poisoned the woman above, cut costs by 25% with this practice.

The lower grade cuts of meat are more likely to have been in contact with feces, a popular hangout spot for E.coli. Most meat companies rely on the slaughterhouses to test the meat and only test it themselves after the beef is ground up together.

The USDA, using a healthy dose of logic, prefers meat companies test the separate meats first before combining, so that any contaminated meat can be targeted more efficiently. But apparently handshake agreements with some meat companies allow slaughterhouses to sell various cuts of meat only if the grinder agrees not to test it for E.coli.

Since waiting around for social responsibility on the parts of the slaughterhouses and the meat companies could take longer than the 2^nd Ave Subway construction, the best way to ensure you kill off any possible lingering bacteria, whether already present in the product or contaminated after purchase, is to cook the ground beef until the center temperature is 160F. And a brown center doesn’t mean the temperature reached 160F so use a thermometer to be sure.

Now you know! And knowing is half the battle.

Another Hair-Raising Experience

Jeers to the hair scrambled egg. My nice Sunday brunch at Almond, quintessentially a New York style French bistro on 22nd and Broadway, quickly turned into another post when I found a fresh follicle melted into the cheddar over my scrambled eggs.

Mmm.. gross.

Despite my inevitable loss of appetite, I sucked up my pride enough when a new meal was brought out to enjoy what ended up being a fantastic brunch. The locale can’t be beat either—low traffic street with a great view of the flatiron building and around the corner from Madison Square Park.

At least the manager at Almond was sincerely apologetic—nothing like the I-couldn’t-care-less tone I once received from the Lyric Diner manager in a similar situation. He comped the eggs and iced coffees which left me feeling somewhat satisfied yet disgruntled to have another hair meal experience.

These practices are unacceptable for a city that prides itself in its cuisine, harboring an ensemble of restaurants that collectively are deemed a premiere market.

The New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene needs to step it up during their inspections because this is disgraceful. Clearly their guidelines need to be redefined.

Since the hair meal is equal opportunity despite cost and expected luxury of the restaurants it invades, my guess is that the NYDMH regulations for hairnets and acceptable personal care of the kitchen staff in general are lax to say the least. Either that or the inspectors have taken so many bribes that even the FDA looks like it takes it job more seriously these days.