What kind of training do you need for your job and are you happy with the pay?
Here in my office there are 3 of us that do field work.
The oldest guy has a degree in Biology-Secondary Education. He has never taught because he hates kids. After graduation, he took a job taking samples at meat plants and analyzing them. Then he worked in the lab at a wastewater treatment plant. He affectionately refers to his days as a “Turd Herder”.
The youngest guy has a degree in Environmental Health. He worked at the wastewater lab for less than a year before this job came open.
I have a degree in Biology (conservation/ecology/marine biology) with minors in chemistry and math.
The pay is really pretty good. I live in a place that has an exceedingly low cost of living compared to the rest of the country. That also corresponds to a below average wage base for the population. I am currently earning exactly 150% the median salary for my area. That puts me at a little above the nationwide median.
Not sure. Maybe it’s cultural–trying to do things the traditional way. Maybe they are just clueless. Sometimes when I’m talking to some of them I get the impression that they have absolutely no clue what I just said.
Dear God. Do you ever drink soda at restaurants? Are there other things you just don’t order?
I usually order tea when I go out. Things I won’t order would be just about anything that requires several steps to prepare. Sometimes a food is cooked, cooled off, then re-heated. There are many opportunities for somebody to screw something up. The KISS principle should be applied to foodservice much more often than it is.
I was watching “Kitchen Nightmares” with Gordon Ramsay and a (usually) consistent feature of the restaurants were horribly dirty kitchens. In a few cases roaches are running around in plain sight, mouse droppings, rotting meat and vegetables, cooked poultry stored with raw and so on.
Curious how these places are not closed outright by the health inspectors? Some things, like some grease traps and other out-of-the-way places clearly had not seen a wash in a long time. Ramsay opines some things had not been cleaned in years.
Yeah I know…reality TV…nevertheless I think these kitchens really were in horrid shape yet they remained open.
How do such clearly horrible places manage to pass health inspections? Just clean enough for a day, hide the mouse poop and all is well? Are inspections scheduled or by surprise?
In Seattle you can see the inspection reports online. I found it interesting how the dumpy pub I frequent seems to have less problems than some of the fancy pants places downtown. Though it is probably much easier to stay up to code in a small kitchen with one cook and a few dishes than a sprawling kitchen with dozens of cooks and servers.
In the Quincy Market section of Boston, MA, there is a huge rat problem. You can see the damn things in daylight. It is so bad, that I would NEVER eat in any of the restaurants in the area-just thinking of it makes me sick!
In my opinion, this is because the restaurant help leave the dumpster lids open!
Why on earth would this situation be allowed?
City of Boston HD inspectors might be corrupr, or imcompetent, or both-but this situation is outrageous!
Why would such a simple rule be disregarded?
How do such clearly horrible places manage to pass health inspections? Just clean enough for a day, hide the mouse poop and all is well? Are inspections scheduled or by surprise?
Unfortunately there are a lot of places that go for inordinate amounts of time with no inspections. Many of them are in this area (not in my jurisdiction) and I hear about it from those owners when I happen to run into them. Our department is exceedingly particular about inspection frequency. There are a lot of places that are bad because there has been a lack of oversight and education by the H.D. and laziness and a lack of attention by the management and employees.
All our inspections are unannounced. There are rare exceptions like when a place is open at really odd hours or a caterer that just rents out a kitchen or a church that has a restaurant license so they can have fundraisers at any time they want. In those cases we have to schedule a time.
**Do you ever have to go to a private home, like one inhabited by a compulsive hoarder, and say or do anything regarding the mess? **
We have been called in to help with the Code Enforcement Dept. to give some technical assistance on this. Our role is well-defined in this case to assisting with rodent issues and giving guidance to the contractors who clean out the house regarding air quality, personal protective equipment, and hazardous waste.
Do you think the fact that apparently no one can pass the full health code is a sign that the health code is a little out of hand?
No. The Food Code is very all-encompassing. I will never “Barney Fife” a restaurant and write everything I see. If we wanted to get technical, the wheels of a cart can be considered food service equipment and be written as a 4-5 non-critical for failure to maintain clean food equipment. That’s why I stated earlier that there are places where I haven’t WRITTEN any violations. I frequently find things that I decide not to write. That’s where a lot of professional judgement comes in. Just because you see it, doesn’t mean you have to write it. Sometimes I’ll just casually mention it to the manager or an employee and use it as an educational opportunity. With the amount of processing going on and the number of employees present, someone is eventually going to do something they shouldn’t. The Food Code is designed to cover a lot of potential issues but we are entrusted to determine what is most important to each individual case.
Several years ago in Milwaukee, a popular Mexican restaurant was temporarily shut down after customers heard disturbing noises coming from the kitchen and called the police. It turned out that one of the staff was holding a big celebration (wedding or quinceanera, I think) and in preparation, they were slaughtering a goat. In the kitchen. Off hand, about how many codes do you think they violated? As I recall, they were only shut down for 2-4 weeks. Last time I was in Milwaukee, they were still in business.
[QUOTE=Obsidian[Do you think the fact that apparently no one can pass the full health code is a sign that the health code is a little out of hand?[/QUOTE]
That one depends on the particular county. Around here, it is possible for a restaurant to score 102%. It’s uncommon, but I have seen it. (I’m just a customer and the scores are on display for all to see.) Skimming through the health department’s website, it appears there is a 2 point credit for documentation of approved training such as ServSafe.
And I’m more than a little skeeved out to see that slime and mold in ice bins and dispensers is a very common thing to get dinged for.
Several years ago in Milwaukee, a popular Mexican restaurant was temporarily shut down after customers heard disturbing noises coming from the kitchen and called the police. It turned out that one of the staff was holding a big celebration (wedding or quinceanera, I think) and in preparation, they were slaughtering a goat. In the kitchen. Off hand, about how many codes do you think they violated? As I recall, they were only shut down for 2-4 weeks. Last time I was in Milwaukee, they were still in business.
Well, the slaughtering of the goat could be a few different critical violations. However, it’s not necessarily as severe as some might think. If the goat meat is not served in the restaurant, there may only be 1 or 2 violations. (It is VERY common in certain ethnic restaurants to be told, “That is not for customers. We cook that for ourselves.”) As long as the work surfaces were cleaned and sanitized properly after the event, it really isn’t a huge issue.
Are you sure this story is the truth? I hear this kinda stuff all the time. Somebody knows somebody whose relative was in the restaurant and saw a cook chasing down a cat. That’s the most common.
What is your opinion of airline food? I think it is gross, and the preparation sounds dangerous to me-the stuff is prepared and packed at a central location-then sent around the country. One “Typhoid Mary” could poison thousands of people!
Skimming my county’s reports, improper holding temperature is a very common violation with the Oriental places. One report cited a box of raw shrimp being held at about 80 degrees, and a buffet pan of cooked sesame chicken being served at a similar temperature.
Cross-contamination was another Oriental biggie - double-dipping with ladles and spoons when cooking, storing raw poultry over cooked food in the cooler, breaking down chickens on a board, then cutting up the cooked chicken on the same board without sanitizing, etc.
I didn’t see much of either of these at fast-food places (even though they’re largely staffed by notoriously indifferent teenagers) or other types of restaurants.
Seeing the same violations cited on repeated inspections make me think the problem is not one of “not knowing” but one of “not caring.” These aren’t problems that need money to correct, so you can’t even pin this on “being cheap” - it’s not like they have to cough up money for a new dishwasher or other equipment. Fixing faulty habits is free.
But moldy ice bins and soda nozzles are universal.
After much Googling, I found a snippet of a newspaper article reporting the story (I couldn’t find the entire article without having to pay or sign up for something). I was mistaken on one point: the restaurant was in Green Bay, not Milwaukee. It has the same name as Milwaukee restaurant, which must have been what confused me.