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AIR DATE: November 2, 2011
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The Quail Hollow farm is a Community Supported Agricultural entity that distributes food through a shareholder system. A couple Fridays ago, the farm's owners organized a dinner for its members. The meal featured foods harvested from the farm. Right before service, the health department shut them down. We find out why.
GUESTS
Max Jacobson, farm member
Susan La Bey, Supervisor, Southern Nevada Health District
LINKS
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You not a smart person. Microbiolgy doesn't teach you anything about food safety. Yes, I took it and probably have more food safety experience than you, Max. During Thanksgiving when your private party gets sick, should the health department come investigate you too??? This isn't the San Genaro feast or the Renaissance Fair. The issue is that the health department didn't belong there. I am glad the food critic was there and knew something about health laws.
Jimmy –
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Jimmy I felt no need to display my credentials but undergraduate, graduate, and professional experience in the field of Public Health provide me with sufficient understanding of the nature of this issue. Food safety is microbiology. The growth rates of microorganisms, which of course varies by temperature among other factors, is a large part of the time and temperature controls built into food safety codes across the country. While nobody here has advocated that health departments regulate meals in private homes, the regulation of businesses which serve meals in exchange for money is quite common. If this farm can cook food and sell it restaurant style, it is not unreasonable that the Health Department should be at least somewhat interested in whether the food was prepared in a safe manner, just like they do at other traditional restaurants. Perhaps the food code could use a special section for events such as this. Perhaps the people of Clark County do not wish to require safe food handling practices for these types of events. The issue seems to be whether the current standard for food safety is appropriate for farm to fork events.
Edward –
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In this case, it sounds like they overstepped their boundary. It is not a resaurant or a festival. It's a farm and a private dinner. Does the Dept of Ag not have jurisdiction over it?
As the other commenter said below, I don't see why they had to destroy all their food with bleach if they are on a farm and cannot even feed their animals with the large amount of food that was not allowed to feed people. It did sound like they sent an inexperienced inspector to the event as well.
The comment made by the supervisor that they were watching the farm for a while sounds evil and threatening. Why were you looking at them? Did they do something wrong before? Why is the health district looking or keeping tabs on a farm? That is a function of the Department of Agriculture.
I think heads should roll at the health district if an internal investigation finds that the health district overstepped their boundaries by an overzealous supervisor.
Steven Halseth –
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It seems to me that all of the food poisoning cases that I hear about come from fast food establishments or other such commercial ventures. I don't believe I've ever heard about a farm event, family event or private reception event, back yard bbq or the like having food poisoning episodes, or bugs in the food, or fingers in the food, or any other foreign substance that seems to be always cropping up in commercial establishments. I'll take my chances at the farm, thank you very much!
Haunani Taylor –
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The inspector was probably calling because people like Max were rude, threatening, and uncooperative. If you were about to shut down a large dinner like this because they hadn't done their food right, wouldn't you call your boss? Looks like the inspector was wise to do so after all this public outcry. How about we get an answer to the question: "Was the food cooked and served as the rules require?" Oh, and why wasn't the chef on the show? He could have told us all about how the food was cooked, when, etc. Seems odd that he wouldn't be on if every thing was on the up and up.
Edward –
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