Explain How You Would Prepare For A Health Inspection

3. Identify and explain how you would prepare for a health inspection. You may use some concepts learned from HACCP as an example.

Personally, I would make sure that my restaurant or food service venue I was running is operating above expectations. First off, I would start with the overall appearance of the establishment. If a health Inspector was coming to review a fine dining establishment then it would throw off a lot of red flags if it didn’t look like a fine dining experience. I would have my employees clean both the interior and exterior. And all big items that may have any dust, spiderwebs, or etc.

Then I would move on to the way my employees looked. I would make sure that all the uniforms were clean, washed, and neat. I would make sure their hair was clean and in the acceptable fashion, and that the rest of their uniform was up to par, as well as making sure none of my employees felt even a little ill. I would also take some time to quiz them on certain practices the inspector may ask them.
Next, I would move to the back of the house.
I would make sure all the chef's and food prep team were wearing the correct food handling gear. (I.e. Gloves, hairnets, etc.) I would make sure the dishes were not a mess and piled up. And then make sure they were all polished and up to standard with the restaurant. And I would have my staff double check that all food was up to date and not expired.

Finally, I would have a final walk-through to make sure bathrooms were clean and up to par, trashcans were covered and not overflowing, and everything else was in its place. And once all of that was checked, I would make sure all my paper work is ready and prepare to welcome the Inspector. This way I can be set up and prepared appearance wise and paperwork
wise.

4. What are federal, state, and local regulatory agencies, and what are their main roles in protecting consumers?

There are several federal, state, and local regulatory agencies government agencies work to protect the sanitary quality of food in an establishment. A few other agencies concerned with food safety should come to mind in all of the categories. One such example is, the center for disaster control and prevention (CDC), which is located in Atlanta, Georgia. The CDC is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This center provides services such as investigating outbreaks of foodborne illness, study the causes and how to control disease, and publish statistical data and case studies in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). These services are a tremendous help to the community and area as a whole.

Other agencies such as, “The U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) publishes the Food Code, a model that assists food control jurisdictions at all levels of government by providing them with a scientifically sound technical and legal basis for regulating the retail and food service segment of the industry (restaurants and grocery stores and institutions such as nursing homes). Local, state, tribal, and federal regulators use the FDA Food Code as a model to develop or update their own food safety rules and to be consistent with national food regulatory policy.” (Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 2017)

I have found from my research that the FDA write both nationwide guidelines and state regulations. In my state of Texas, they partner with the Texas Health and Human Services organization that is a part of the Texas Department of State Health Services. The FDA does this in order to draft guidelines that are more relative to Texas. Which I think is a great idea, because some of Texas’s guidelines might not work for other states such as Oregon or Hawaii; And Visa-Versa. Making the codes that all establishment have to follow in the jurisdiction more relevant to their own states market. Each area has different agencies that are best suite to help regulate and protect food for all people.