Food safety has always been a major constituent of the US healthcare system. Millions of Americans nowadays struggle with food poisonings, whereas the biggest part of the accidents takes place in food service facilities. Approximately 800 foodborne illness outbreaks are reported in the US on a yearly basis, with most of them being related to restaurants (CDC, n.d.). In order to take proper control over the quality of the food served in facilities, the Us Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has implemented the system of regulatory inspections.
Hence, the inspectors are able to do a full-scale examination on the level of the food’s safety. However, the food safety control system has some drawbacks in terms of the peculiarities of meal preparation and the customers’ attitude toward them (CDC, 2017). For this reason, many restaurants are now eager to launch a ‘self-inspection’ approach by introducing inspection results made by kitchen managers directly to the FDA.
Although such an approach may be understandable, the idea is not quite well-considered in the context of nationwide health safety. Food safety inspectors assigned by the government are not interested in the facility’s income rates, and for this reason, unlike kitchen managers, dependant on the employer, public inspectors serve as the disinterested party. Kitchen managers, however, should be a part of the establishment’s staff, as the statistics show that their presence improves the quality of both products and services (CDC, 2018). The inspections are also beneficial in terms of collecting the data on the topic and management of the facilities required to prevent poisoning outbreaks.
Speaking of my local community, for example, there are few accidents related to poor food quality in the area’s restaurants, as many business owners today are afraid of the consequences a single violation may bring. Additionally, nobody from my surroundings has experienced any foodborne illnesses lately. However, it should be remembered that there is no such thing as luck when it comes to nutrition quality, and the consumer has the full right to be informed about the meal suggested.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2017). Challenges in food safety. Web.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2018). Kitchen manager certification: an important way to improve restaurant food safety. Web.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (n.d.). Contributing factors: preventable causes of foodborne illness infographic. Web.