Olympic food vendors fail inspections

By LARRY PYNN, Vancouver Sun February 23, 2010

VANCOUVER -- More than one-third of 424 food operations serving the
Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games in Richmond, Vancouver, at Cypress Bowl in
West Vancouver, and Whistler did not fully meet health regulations,
Vancouver Coastal Health Authority inspection reports show.

Of the 147 food operations not compliant in one or more aspects of their
operations, 56 or 38 per cent were specifically cited for "potentially
hazardous food" concerns, including failure to thaw food properly and
failure to maintain food at sufficiently low or high temperatures, a
review by The Vancouver Sun has found.

The food operations include temporary facilities serving the public,
athletes, media, dignitaries, volunteers and other workers, and can
range from restaurant-style operations to smaller concessions and even
beer vendors and hotdog stands.

Food service has been farmed out to caterers at the various Olympic
venues that are not permanent sites.

Local restaurants typically receive one visit annually from health
inspectors, the frequency varying based on history.

Olympic food venues were generally visited three times by inspectors in
February alone, evidence of the extra measure of vigilance underway to
guard against an outbreak of food-borne illness during the Games.

A total of about 35 Vancouver Coastal Health inspectors are working
full-out in the Olympic field every day in two shifts.

"We're keeping our fingers crossed that we get through without any
adverse impact on people," Domenic Losito, regional director of
environmental health, said in an interview Tuesday. "So far, we seem to
be on top of it."

Losito said temporary food outlets typically have more health violations
than permanent restaurants due to issues such as inexperienced staff and
difficulties maintaining proper food temperatures and supplying hot
water at remote sites.

Verbal and written warnings from health inspectors are generally
sufficient to address compliance issues, but in the most serious case to
date, Austria House at Lost Lake in Whistler received a Public Health
Act order.

The order required that:

- Each food preparation and service area is equipped with a hand-wash
station serviced with hot and cold running water and provided with
liquid soap and paper towel.

- No food is stored outdoors.

- All dishware and utensils are washed and sanitized before use.

- Critical limits are monitored in accordance with the food safety plan;
written temperature logs are maintained.

- Food is kept protected from contamination at all times.

Losito said conditions were met within a matter of hours of the order
being issued. Failure to act on such health concerns could lead to a
fine or closing of a facility.

Inspectors also found an "unapproved food preparation area" at Russia's
Sochi House at Science World. Service was temporarily restricted to "low
risk food items" and single-service dishware (paper, plastic) and
utensils until officials could get a permit and address health problems
related to issues such as heating and refrigeration.

Among the compliance issues elsewhere: the Alberta Pavilion in Vancouver
fell under scrutiny for lack of hand soap and paper towels and for
storing milk on ice; Germany House at Whistler for "partially cooked
meat, beef joints and chicken breast found cooling at room temperature;"
and Maison du Quebec in Vancouver for gravy stored at room temperature,
improper temperature in the dishwasher, and improperly cleaned
washrooms.

The NBC broadcast compound at Cypress had to discard dressings not kept
cool, while the NBC/CTV compound at the Richmond oval failed to maintain
adequate cooling of food on the self-serve buffet table. At Whistler
Creekside, the NBC broadcast compound had problems with ready-to-eat
cold food items on a buffet line "not held below critical limit."

One inspection report on Boston Pizza at GM Place, renamed Canada Hockey
Place during the Olympics, reported: "Rodent activity was noted. All
rodent excrement along the walls must be removed. Rodent abatement
strategies must be increased." The hand-wash sink was blocked, and the
two-door cooler was too warm.

A report on "workforce break area # 1 at the base" of Whistler Creek
found "chemical spray bottles being stored near foods (i.e. whole
fruits)." The inspector also found that the staff hand-wash station was
not in operation. "There was no running water and the basin contained an
accumulation of clogged dirty water." Sanitizer was also inadequate.

At the exhibition hall "receiving dishwashing area" at 1055 Canada
Place, the inspector noted "food handlers not washing hands thoroughly
before commencing or resuming work after using washroom facilities,
smoking, handling raw product, etc."

The range of other concerns for the 147 outlets included inadequate hot
water, soaps, paper towels, sanitization, failure to separate foods to
prevent cross-contamination, and failure to keep daily temperature logs.

Several dozen of the 424 Olympic food sites were not covered by health
inspection reports for reasons not immediately clear.

Losito, who visited the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy, to learn from
health inspectors there, said his officials were checking into five
public complaints of food poisoning in Vancouver related to non-Olympic
restaurants and the potential for them to be associated not with food,
but with norovirus.

The disease, also known as stomach flu or viral gastroenteritis, is
normal in facilities such as daycares and schools around late January to
early March, he said.

Meanwhile, a gastrointestinal outbreak at an Olympic workforce camp near
Whistler is "consistent with a norovirus outbreak and no food sources
have been implicated," he said. Food service at the camp has been
inspected and found to be exemplary.

The outbreak peaked before last weekend and as of Tuesday had declined
to only one additional reported case, he said.

lpynn@vancouversun.com


(c) Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun