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Food
Handler Certification Program |
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call the Health Department and advise the customer to call the Health Department
Call your local Health Department and speak to your district health
inspector. Provide the health inspector with as much information as
possible to assist in the investigation. The Public Health Inspector's
job is to ensure the incident does not happen again and not
to find blame.
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ask the customer what they ate, what their symptoms were and the time of both
The time of meal and the time of onset of symptoms are very important in
determining the type of illness. Not all food poisonings are caused by the last
meal eaten. Very often the food causing illness was eaten days before
symptoms began.
- review with the staff how the meal was prepared (using the HACCP system)
Refer to the HACCP Section for details.
- ask staff if they were ill with similar symptoms
Food handlers with foodborne illness-like symptoms must not be handling food until they are
symptom free for at least 24 hours. Food handlers with Shigella, Typhoid Fever, Hepatitis A and
Norwalk-like virus must not handle food until they are cleared by the Health Department.
- save food samples from original meal if possible
These samples should be labelled and stored in the refrigerator. Food samples from the original
meal will be sent to the Ministry of Health laboratory for testing to determine if there are any
pathogens present. The Health Department will also ask the customer to submit a stool or
vomitus sample for testing to determine if there are any pathogens present. A confirmed
foodborne illness only occurs when the pathogens from the original meal and the customer are
the same.
- write down all this information
Keep accurate notes and records in case of further action by the customer.
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