by Scheduling expands the range of risks addressed
Introduction: Scheduled inspections are a reward for consistently following food safety processes with regulatory clearance. A scheduled inspection system as in Olmsted County Minnesota, “PTV”, converts the common “raid” atmosphere into teachable moments. Let’s encourage this improvement and free our 30,000+ inspectors to first instruct. This provides a more appropriate alignment with the prevention-focused FSMA and Active Managerial Control as well as opening the door to hire coaches rather than a police force. – Jim Mann, Executive Director, Handwashing For Life Institute
Article written by Peter Rich, retired Director of Environmental Health, Olmsted County, Minnesota
We find that the physical conditions in a licensed facility are simply the symptoms that illustrate the adequacy (or inadequacy) of the operator’s policies, procedures and training.
To be effective in our work, we find that we need to focus on the operator and the operator’s policies, procedures and training. We have coined the term PTV to shorten our description.
The food service operator is our primary customer. Our primary professional public health service is to help the operators identify and address their food protection risks. We address the risks that range from food sources to kitchen processes and table service process.
Healthy employee’s and hand-washing are significant parts of our “on-site assessment” focus.
To address this range of risks, we need to be meeting with the manager/operator. They have information that is not apt to be gathered through any of the “traditional inspection methods” commonly employed in the past century.
To conduct our on-site assessments of the operators policies, procedures and training, we make an appointment with the manager. That way, we assure that the operator is present and can provide us with undivided attention.
The manager a) is the responsible party, b) can address our inquiries about the business’ policies, procedures, systems of training staff, c) has the overview of the facility, 4) can describe and show us their systems for self monitoring relative to all aspects of their business form the food they receive to the way it is prepared and then provided to their customers, and finally 5) can make changes to improve their PTV systems.
After we conduct the review and assessment of the operator’s policies, procedures and training, we then proceed to conduct a walk-thru of the facility with the operator. The operator can then clearly demonstrate how adequately the staff and their supervisors are implementing the operators policies, procedures, and training.
Attached are documents that summarize our methods, how the law provides a foundation for that method, and the forms we use to document our on-site assessment findings.
