by Legal action underway
Last summer’s Salmonella outbreak at Brent’s Deli in Westlake Village, California, sent 8 people to the hospital.
The Ventura County Environmental Health Division conducted inspections at the restaurant, finding inadequate employee hand-washing along with other violations.
Poor hand hygiene, poor handwashing, remains the #1 contributing factor cited in outbreak investigations.
The risk of such outbreaks can be greatly reduced by setting handwashing standards, documenting performance and rewarding success. Non-performers must be disciplined or the operator’s handwashing policy is rendered useless and the unnecessarily high risk continues. Handwash monitoring technologies can help give operators much better process control.
Ownership, local management and staff must all have skin in the game. Without commitment and means of measurement from this trio, the risk goes on and becomes part of the team’s operational culture. The longer the delay in addressing the reality, the more difficult is for the needed behavior change.
The brand of Brent’s Deli has likely been tarnished. Brand protection may be the best reason for operators to confront their missed handwashes.
