Leafy greens labeled "highly dangerous" by new food code

Craig Pendleton of National Foodservice Consulting alerted me to the fact that the FDA has updated the national food code for 2009. The Food Code is released every four years to provide a model and reference for regulating all aspects of the food industry. Many local health departments use it as a reference for their rules and some use it to the letter. Given the fact that there have been over two dozen widespread bacteria outbreaks involving leafy vegetables since 1998, lettuces and other leafy vegetables have been added to the list of “highly dangerous” foods. The guide now recommends time and temperature controls be put into place for green leafy vegetables similar to those controls for fresh fish, other proteins, eggs and the other foods which can rapidly facilitate the spread of bacteria. 

Sandra Eskin, with The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Food Safety Campaign states, “Fresh produce is challenging because, unlike other foods, you don’t have a ‘kill step’—you don’t cook it. If you have one leaf or a few leaves that are contaminated and then you mix it with others, you’ve basically contaminated everything.” 

It will be interesting to see what changes are made in the supply-line of these vegetables do to this change. Now operators cannot say “we didn’t know” and point up the food chain. Operators must take action to insure proper steps for control once the product is received and document these steps.

Bobby Fitzgerald is the author of "Smile or You're Fired...Seven Lessons for Managers of Service" available at amazon.com