Thursday, August 21, 2008

Should The Public Sue The Food Safety Enforcing Public Servants?

Food Safety is far lower than it appears. We are no doubt all lulled into a false sense of security by knowing that there are laws governing food safety.
There is, after all, only one thing that is more unsafe than an unsafe act or condition, and that is having the same situation but covered up or hidden.
The problem can in most cases be traced to the enforcers.
Try taking a look at the amount of times a food establishment has has action taken against them for violation of food storage or handling regulations.
In many jurisdictions the number will be easy to count - NONE.
That is because the food safety enforcers appear to be favouring the food companies in their methods of applying the regulations.
In most if not all states and provinces the regulations are fine, well thought out, good commonsense rules and laws.
But you can have all the laws you like if the enforcement is not occurring.
The amazing thing is that if you chase these people, they will generally point blank refuse to do their job and enforce the regulations.
I informed such an individual about flies from a garbage bucket stored behind the counter in a coffee shop in a shopping mall food court, and that was over a year ago. The bucket remains, the flies still fly up, and even at times settle on the uncovered food (against the regulations) and even copulate there.
As an experiment, and just to see how thick skinned and obtuse these public servants are, I have actually informed THREE governmental levels, including a provincial Member of the Nova Scotia Legislature (MLA) of the flies, which fly up as the servers pass, and then settle on the sugar and the cups. The coffee counter is three small units from the passageway to the public washrooms, which are in constant use.
The end result in doing this is that there is protesting done about my attitude, and thinly veiled threats made about legal action. But still no attempt to enforce the regulations.
Maybe I have to belong to a special club or society in order to get work done that my tax dollars are paying for.
What the public needs to do is take some action in the courts to force these individuals out of their cozy civil servant jobs.
They need suing for accepting salaries under false pretences. They need publicly exposing , and publicly ridiculed. If they were in private industry, they would have failed performance reviews. If continuing, they would eventually be let go.
So, if you need to have some fun, and have some time, look into how many food establishments have been acted against for regulatory violation. In Nova Scotia, it is very few, the reason being given that "We work with the establishments in order to get the compliance done" or something similar.
Also, I was advised to phone in order to discuss the matter and have it explained to me.
Interesting how those who prefer not to be accountable always prefer the phone.

But, this is not just a local problem to my own province here in Nova Scotia, it is a Canada and USA - wide issue.

Check the regulations for your state or province.
See the violations
Advise the Enforcers.
Be told a load of hogwash.
See the violations continue.
Watch the issue create health scare or a death.

That appears to be the system of food safety we are working under. Amazing.