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Friday, February 24, 2012

The filth hits the fan in Dunmore

This is something I wrote just a couple of days ago...

For instance, I see the back-of-house facilities where your foodstuffs are prepared. Put another way, I know where to eat as well as where not to eat. Do you?

Try this one on for size. I know of a popular local bakery where mice, flies and birds (yes, birds) roam freely throughout the food preparation areas. I wouldn’t consume anything prepared in there. But you do.

I once encountered a local kitchen so completely overwhelmed by fruit flies that I donned a dust mask so as to not ingest any. Did you order food from that kitchen? I never did, nor will I.

Remember, while Wilkes-Barre has it's own health department and regularly inspects food production facilities within it's confines, our neighboring communities can make no such claim. Are we still snickering?

Not only do I do so with my current employer, since the age of 14, I have been in and out of food production facilities as a chef's assistant, a cook, a kitchen manager, an assistant manager, and finally, as a general manager.

And my transitory job driving truck led me to the kitchens of hospitals, nursing homes, restaurants, bars, snack bars and what have you.

The point being, if a given location throughout NEPA has a fryer and a flattop, I've probably seen it at one time or another. Which leads me to this news story from WBRE after having watched Chef Robert Irvine's full show which aired last night.

Spotlight Fallout: Dunmore Restaurant Sparks Uproar on TV

What you need to fully understand is that Pennsylvania is not even close to being a leader in food safety compliance. The larger municipalities have their own health departments. But the vast majority of PA's smaller municipalities do not.

And and such, food safety varies from locale to locale.

As a general rule, if a place looks a little less than clean where you can see it, imagine what it looks like where prying eyes are not allowed.

Good luck.

Later

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