Visit a restaurant of your choice. This can include fast food restaurants, mid-priced restaurants; 5-star restaurants (any restaurant you chose but you must be able to sit down to eat because you need to observe the employees actions)
Observe your entire experience from the eyes of a health inspector. State the name of the Restaurant and the city in which it is located. (NAME A RESTAURANT LOCATED IN ORANGE COUNTY, CA, USA)
Write a 2-page essay explaining what you observed.
I am asking you to use all the information learned in this class and look at the operation from the eyes of a Health Inspector.
This paper is not about the quality of the food or flavors. It is about their food safety level.
Example of completed Restaurant Report:
When we walked in, we joined the line of people waiting to order their custom pizza. The line moves
along an assembly line in which different wait staff man different stations, such as sauce, cheese,
toppings, and meat. This was an efficient process that helped prevent physical contamination. All staff
manning stations had their hair short and/or tied back in a ponytail. All of them wore baseball caps and
gloves.
They added toppings to the crust as it moved down the “conveyor belt”. The crust was closest to the
food handlers; they had to reach over the crust to get to the various toppings. Having the hair short or
tied back and under a cap helped prevent contamination. However, having the food handlers reach over
the crust and toppings could lead to some contamination. The first food handler brushed butter, olive
oil, and/or herb butter on the crust, then poured a ladle full of sauce on top of the base, spreading it
around with the bottom of the ladle before returning the ladle to the sauce container. The sauce came
in direct contact with the oily base. While the sauce could not contaminate the butter, the butter could
contaminate the sauce. This could lead to the spread of allergens.
The next station was the cheese. Food handlers scooped up the grated mozzarella with a scoop, then
used their gloved hands to loosely measure it. They used their gloved hands to spread the cheese
around on top of the crust. Ricotta and/or Gorgonzola was dolloped out with a melon baller. Again, the
food handler used his/her gloved hands to spread the cheese evenly. There could be some cross-mixing
of cheeses, but that would not be a serious problem.
Each of the vegetables, next along the assembly line, was in its own uncovered container. Food
handlers, however, reached from one container to another to put the requested toppings on the pizza.
Replacement containers came from the kitchen with covers, which were removed when swapped out
with the empties. This didn’t present any problems that I could see, except possibly for people with
allergies.
The next station was the meats. Choices included BBQ chicken, meatballs, sausage, pepperoni, ham,
bacon, Canadian bacon, etc. All of these were pre-cooked; most were cured meats. Again, the food
handlers reached into subsequent containers to get the meat to put on top of the pizza. It’s possible
some of the uncured meats may have contaminated each other if they were undercooked. At one point,
some non-English speakers reached over the top of the plexiglass barrier to point out the toppings they
wanted on their pizza. They could easily have contaminated the toppings.
Neither the cashier nor the pizza baker wore gloves. Initially, the cashier was also the assistant manager.
She moved from the cash register to the pizza cutting station. I did not see whether she had washed her
hands between stations. The pizza was cut on a board on which there was a sheet of paper, thus
preventing contamination. The assistant manager did not don gloves when she moved from the register
to the cutting station, but later when she took over the toppings station, she did. Again, I did not see her
wash her hands, although it is possible that she did so as there was a sink in the room. (The faucet
required touching with the hand to turn on and off.)
At one point, the assistant manager hiked up her pants; at another point, she rubbed her nose and
wiped her forehead with the back of her forearm/hand, preventing possible contamination. The crust
station was in the corner, off to the side (at a 90-degree angle to the conveyor belt), so it was difficult to
see. I did see one food handler carry a tray with perhaps nine crusts from the kitchen to the prep
station. That same food handler was responsible for rolling the dough and putting it on individual pizza
peels for the staff manning the assembly line. I did not see the action of the dough prep person, other
than carrying the dough from the kitchen and putting the peels on the belt. The dough balls are pressed
to a uniform size and shape by a mechanical press. (I did not witness this operation but read about it
online.)
Beverages were either in bottles kept in a small refrigerator (with a glass door) or dispensed from a
fountain drink dispenser. Customers could refill their drinks as they wished. Kids walked back and forth
to and from their seats to the drink dispenser, eating their pizza en route. Condiments such as hot
sauces, red pepper flakes, Parmesan cheese, etc. were kept adjacent to the drink dispenser, as were
take-home containers for leftovers.
On the floor under the swinging door (marked “Employees Only”) leading to the kitchen was a hair band.
The door swung open and shut several times, but the hair band remained in place. I don’t know how
long it had been on the floor; I don’t know if other objects were on the kitchen floor. At one point, a
staff member came out and wiped off a table around the corner from us. I couldn’t see what he used to
clean the surface, nor could I see where the cleaning cloth had come from. However, I was able to see
that he tossed it into a container under the cash register when he had finished wiping the table.
Expert Solution Preview
As a medical professor in charge of creating assignments and evaluating student performance, it is crucial to assess students’ understanding and application of the knowledge learned in the medical field. One way to do this is by assigning tasks that require students to critically analyze real-life situations and apply their knowledge to provide a comprehensive evaluation.
The assigned task requires the students to visit a restaurant of their choice and observe their entire dining experience from the perspective of a health inspector. The aim is to evaluate the restaurant’s food safety practices, rather than commenting on the quality of the food or flavors. Students are expected to write a 2-page essay explaining their observations, focusing on the restaurant’s adherence to food safety protocols.
In order to maintain the privacy and anonymity of the students, it is not appropriate for them to disclose their identities in their answers. Instead, the students should focus on providing a detailed and objective account of their observations, highlighting any potential areas of concern in relation to food safety practices.
By conducting this assignment, I aim to encourage students to apply their medical knowledge and critical thinking skills in a real-life setting. This exercise enables them to understand the importance of food safety regulations and how they contribute to protecting public health. Additionally, it helps students develop skills in observation, analysis, and effective communication, all of which are essential in the medical field.
Overall, this assignment serves as an opportunity for students to demonstrate their ability to evaluate and assess food safety practices, highlighting the significance of incorporating their medical knowledge into real-life scenarios. Through this exercise, students will gain valuable experience and enhance their understanding of food safety protocols in the restaurant industry.