IMPROVING FOOD SAFETY IN OTTAWA

As personal injury lawyers, you may imagine that the lawyers at Quinn Thiele Mineault Grodzki LLP, personal injury lawyers Ottawa, receive many inquiries about different kinds of injuries caused in many different ways. A fairly common call relates to complaints about contaminated food at various restaurants and fast food outlets. The specifics of the complaints are far reaching, from finding foreign objects in food and drink to falling ill because of improper food preparation. How common are these problems? Common enough, as any google search will reveal instances of food borne illness stories in pretty much every local community along with national advisories and recalls being issued across the country by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Given these problems, the lawyers at QTMG LLP are reacting favourably to the City of Ottawa's announcement on August 20, 2012, that Ottawa Public Health is working to make eating out in Ottawa restaurants a safer experience. The focus of the initiative is greater information sharing that allows consumers to make informed choices as well as the ability for consumers to more easily report food safety concerns to the City. This will be accomplished through an upcoming web application designed specifically for that purpose. Aside from enhanced communication, the Ottawa Board of Health has also recently approved targeted safe food handler training that will increase the number of certified safe food handlers working in premises known to have a history of non-compliance with food safety regulations. The specific purpose will be to allow Ottawa Public Health to mitigate risks in these "at risk" establishments. The targeted program is complementary to the continuing promotion of voluntary training for all food handlers in Ottawa. For anyone interested in food safety in Ottawa restaurants you may wish to take a look at wwww.ottawa.ca/restaurantinspections