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The Borgia tradition
PUBLIC
HEALTH
The Journal of the Society of Medical Officers of Health Vol. LXXII
August 1958 THE
BORGIA
No. 5
TR'ADITION
" FOOD poisoning does not just happen. It is always caused, and the cause is nearly always the act of negligence of a human being." Thus begins Chapter III of the new handbook on " Clean Catering" published for the Ministry of Health and the Department of Health for Scotland. It is rather a pity that one has to wait until page 27 of the book for this firm pronouncement which would have deserved heavy capitals on page one and if we have a criticism of this wholly admirable little book it is that its language and manner are a little too temperate. In a country in which a great many of the places in which one takes food when away from home offer at least a substantial chance of food poisoning a little righteous anger is not merely justified but strongly indicated. This is the clear and simple manual that we have been waiting for. It offers sound practical guidance on premises--layout and constructional details --equipment--not only its choice but its care--and practice. Not least important is the fact that more than half of its 64 pages are devoted to practices, for, as has been proved over and over again in the public health field, it is easy to make regulations and prescribe standards for buildings and equipment and yet to find them nullified by the failure of the staff employed to use and maintain them with care and intelligence. If it were possible to keep a public health inspector permanently on watch in every catering establishment all would probably be well, but such a course is manifestly impossible and therefore the ideal to aim at is that every manager of a catering place should be his own public health monitor. For this he needs training so that he will not only understand what ought to be done but will accept the responsibility for doing it. If he is brought to this point he will perceive that hygienic food handling requires his staff, right down to the most menial, to get rid of certain common human habits and to acquire certain others which demand the taking of care and trouble. In other words, they too need intensive health education. It follows that the health department, as well as being the watcher and adviser, must become the educator and that the educational work for catering employees 161
162
PUBLIC HEALTH VOL. LXXII NO. 5
which so many health departments are now doing needs to be still further expanded. Hygienic food preparation, however, takes a little longer than the slapdash technique, requires the provision of equipment and the engagement of staff with a modicum of intelligence and interest and demands that the top-level management should directly encourage it. Inevitably, hygiene costs a little more than non-hygiene and the management which is principally interested in profits is quite likely to lack interest in hygiene. Exhortations and voluntary codes of practice are all very well in their way, but so long as the " bad boys " can ignore or evade them it is hard to persuade the " good b o y s " to take trouble and spend money. We do not waver in our belief that the registration of catering establishments is not merely desirable but urgently necessary and that if the catering trade opposes such registration it is condemning itself as unsocial. However much we feel that our health services are better than those of our colleagues in the U.S.A. we envy them their achievements in the field of catering hygiene and the powers which have made those achievements possible. But the education of the public is at least equally necessary. Take one simple example, on which the booklet, incidentally, gives a clear warning. It is a widespread and, apparently, a growing practice for hotels and restaurants to cook joints the day before, let them cool, slice them while cold and then, when the time comes, serve up the slices lukewarm. This technique offers a great deal of scope for contamination but is defended on the grounds that it is " economical." The experienced managers of good hotels do not accept it ; to them it is an indication that the cooks and their assistants are lazy or incompetent or both. The public can easily recognise re-heated joints by their flavour and would be within their rights and, indeed, performing a public service, if they complained or at any rate ceased to patronise places which do this. The British public, however, do not care about food. They shovel into their mouths, without discrimination, almost any ill-cooked, slovenly-served mess of indifferent ingredients that a caterer cares to insult them with. The average hotel or restaurant, therefore, has no incentive to engage interested or intelligent staff who take a pride in their kitchen work and it is precisely where nobody bothers about the gastronomic standard of the food that nobody is likely to bother about its hygienic standard. We are pessimistic about educating the public palate, but consider it a legitimate and, indeed, an urgent task for the health department to teach the people a little about hygiene. For so long as the catering trade remains primarily commercial it can be brought up to standard by only two things--registration and the manifest expression of dissatisfaction by customers. There are honourable establishments, both large and small, expensive and inexpensive, which succeed in supplying excellent and clean food ; what some do today the rest should be made to do to-morrow.
HEALTH
The Journal of the Society of Medical Officers of Health Vol. LXXII
August 1958 THE
BORGIA
No. 5
TR'ADITION
" FOOD poisoning does not just happen. It is always caused, and the cause is nearly always the act of negligence of a human being." Thus begins Chapter III of the new handbook on " Clean Catering" published for the Ministry of Health and the Department of Health for Scotland. It is rather a pity that one has to wait until page 27 of the book for this firm pronouncement which would have deserved heavy capitals on page one and if we have a criticism of this wholly admirable little book it is that its language and manner are a little too temperate. In a country in which a great many of the places in which one takes food when away from home offer at least a substantial chance of food poisoning a little righteous anger is not merely justified but strongly indicated. This is the clear and simple manual that we have been waiting for. It offers sound practical guidance on premises--layout and constructional details --equipment--not only its choice but its care--and practice. Not least important is the fact that more than half of its 64 pages are devoted to practices, for, as has been proved over and over again in the public health field, it is easy to make regulations and prescribe standards for buildings and equipment and yet to find them nullified by the failure of the staff employed to use and maintain them with care and intelligence. If it were possible to keep a public health inspector permanently on watch in every catering establishment all would probably be well, but such a course is manifestly impossible and therefore the ideal to aim at is that every manager of a catering place should be his own public health monitor. For this he needs training so that he will not only understand what ought to be done but will accept the responsibility for doing it. If he is brought to this point he will perceive that hygienic food handling requires his staff, right down to the most menial, to get rid of certain common human habits and to acquire certain others which demand the taking of care and trouble. In other words, they too need intensive health education. It follows that the health department, as well as being the watcher and adviser, must become the educator and that the educational work for catering employees 161
162
PUBLIC HEALTH VOL. LXXII NO. 5
which so many health departments are now doing needs to be still further expanded. Hygienic food preparation, however, takes a little longer than the slapdash technique, requires the provision of equipment and the engagement of staff with a modicum of intelligence and interest and demands that the top-level management should directly encourage it. Inevitably, hygiene costs a little more than non-hygiene and the management which is principally interested in profits is quite likely to lack interest in hygiene. Exhortations and voluntary codes of practice are all very well in their way, but so long as the " bad boys " can ignore or evade them it is hard to persuade the " good b o y s " to take trouble and spend money. We do not waver in our belief that the registration of catering establishments is not merely desirable but urgently necessary and that if the catering trade opposes such registration it is condemning itself as unsocial. However much we feel that our health services are better than those of our colleagues in the U.S.A. we envy them their achievements in the field of catering hygiene and the powers which have made those achievements possible. But the education of the public is at least equally necessary. Take one simple example, on which the booklet, incidentally, gives a clear warning. It is a widespread and, apparently, a growing practice for hotels and restaurants to cook joints the day before, let them cool, slice them while cold and then, when the time comes, serve up the slices lukewarm. This technique offers a great deal of scope for contamination but is defended on the grounds that it is " economical." The experienced managers of good hotels do not accept it ; to them it is an indication that the cooks and their assistants are lazy or incompetent or both. The public can easily recognise re-heated joints by their flavour and would be within their rights and, indeed, performing a public service, if they complained or at any rate ceased to patronise places which do this. The British public, however, do not care about food. They shovel into their mouths, without discrimination, almost any ill-cooked, slovenly-served mess of indifferent ingredients that a caterer cares to insult them with. The average hotel or restaurant, therefore, has no incentive to engage interested or intelligent staff who take a pride in their kitchen work and it is precisely where nobody bothers about the gastronomic standard of the food that nobody is likely to bother about its hygienic standard. We are pessimistic about educating the public palate, but consider it a legitimate and, indeed, an urgent task for the health department to teach the people a little about hygiene. For so long as the catering trade remains primarily commercial it can be brought up to standard by only two things--registration and the manifest expression of dissatisfaction by customers. There are honourable establishments, both large and small, expensive and inexpensive, which succeed in supplying excellent and clean food ; what some do today the rest should be made to do to-morrow.