Legislature(2003 - 2004)
05/03/2004 09:06 AM Senate FIN
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HOUSE BILL NO. 378
"An Act relating to the Alaska Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act,
including sales, advertising, certain devices, food donors,
and food banks; making certain violations of organic food
provisions and of the Alaska Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act
unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts
or practices under certain of the state's unfair trade
practices and consumer protection laws; and providing for an
effective date."
This was the first hearing for this bill in the Senate Finance
Committee.
Co-Chair Wilken stated this bill, sponsored by the House Finance
Committee, "Authorizes the Department of Environmental Conservation
to implement key elements of the new food safety program, which are
called Active Managerial Control."
REPRESENTATIVE BILL WILLIAMS noted the fees for food inspections
have increased from $50 to approximately $450 per business. He
spoke of subsequent comments from businesses about these increased
fees given the infrequency of inspections. He therefore had asked
the previous and current gubernatorial administrations to eliminate
the fees, as businesses and consumers garner no benefit from these
fees.
ERNESTA BALLARD, Commissioner, Department of Environmental
Conservation, testified that cases of food borne illness are not
accidents but rather incidents: the failure of those handling the
food to observe well understood proper procedures. She continued as
follows.
Our program that Representative Williams has correctly
described as under funded and failing, is based on a 1950s
style, really a pre-WWII style, of restaurant inspections that
was designed in an era in which there were twenty million
meals served a day in restaurants. In the 50s and 60s with the
suburban boom that number jumped to 60 million meals a day
served in restaurants, and yet the same method of periodic
restaurant inspections was considered an adequate regulatory
program.
In 2004 the National Restaurant Association, the other NRA,
estimates that there will be 70 billion meals, a jump from 60
million fifteen years ago to 70 billion meals served in
restaurants. The inspection program of the 50s is not adequate
to restaurant safety, food safety today. With the urging of
the House Finance Committee and its Chair, we completely
redesigned. We looked at successful models of food safety in
particularly the three areas that are known to cause
incidences of illness: poor personal hygiene, which means hand
washing and attention to employee grooming and hygiene habits
and being sure that sick employees are being sent home. That's
one. The second is inadequate attention to temperature and
cooking procedures, which can be addressed with standard
operating procedures. And the third element is inadequate
training, which is being addressed by the restaurant
association and most of the large chains and by many states
and health departments in voluntary programs. Inadequate
training is being addressed by certification and training
programs. The National Restaurant Association recently
graduated their one millionth certified food handler from
their program.
We looked at those three areas. We looked at the very
successful regulatory programs that we run in air and soil and
water protection in which standard operating procedures and
self-certification with written records which are then audited
by the Department and a very heavy field presence in
compliance and enforcement. That is the method and model that
we use elsewhere in the DEC [Department of Environmental
Conservation] that is the method and model that we propose to
use in our Active Managerial Control.
We are actually excited about this. If you are not a
regulator you may not get excited about a new regulatory
method, but we're proud of what we have done. We have been in
contact with states around the country who are very interested
to see any state have the courage to walk away from the old,
under funded, and failed consultative program that we've all
been clinging to, and moving to a new, modern era of
regulatory control.
I want to close by pointing out the success that prevention
can have and protection against exposure. You are probably
aware of the outbreak of a Norwalk virus that occurred on the
Iditarod Trail in March. It began in McGrath. It was well
documented. Epidemiology and Kristin's staff together went
out. There were twenty cases in McGrath. The State employee
team followed the Trail, picked up evidence of cases all along
the Trail, and were very worried about what would happen in
Nome when the entire race and the entire army of followers and
supporters arrived in Nome. Kristin's staff, who are nothing
if they are not determined, talked to all of the restaurants
in Nome, the entire community smelled of Clorox, got all the
restaurants cleaned up, and then went and worked with the
Millennium Hotel, in the gymnasium where the banquet was held,
and got a thousand rubber gloves and got every person who went
to the Musher's Banquet to go through the food line with their
serving hand gloved. We have wonderful photographs of this.
There was not a single outbreak of Norwalk virus in Nome. The
Musher's Banquet was not spoiled. Those that had made it
successfully to Nome then did not have to take Montezuma's
Revenge home with them when they left.
Prevention works. Our Active Managerial Control program is
designed to put the responsibility where it appropriately
lies, and that is in the regulated community. It is adequate
to cover the entire state without regard to where our
inspectors may be at the time. We're very proud of it. I
hope you will consider it favorably today.
Senator Bunde referenced media reports of a viral outbreak in
Fairbanks and asked whether this outbreak is food borne as well.
KRISTIN RYAN, Director, Division of Environmental Health,
Department of Environmental Conservation stated that the Norwalk
virus is difficult to trace, although it is transmittable by air,
water, food, and hand-to-hand contact. She reported that the
Division is attempting to identify the origins and transmission
patterns of this outbreak.
Senator Bunde understood that the outbreak originated at two
establishments in Fairbanks.
Ms. Ryan affirmed that food is the carrier, although she was unsure
whether food was the original source.
ROBIN NORTHSEYER, owner and operator, Northern Hospitality Training
and Consulting, testified via teleconference from an offnet
location that she has been conducting food safety training. She has
found that the issue is not a lack of will in keeping people from
getting sick, but rather the lack of knowledge of how easily
illness could be transmitted through food. She emphasized that
training is "key" to public safety in Alaska given the number of
visitors. She expressed that spreading food borne illnesses to
tourists would be detrimental to the industry.
Senator Olson asked if the witness supports the bill and whether
her opinion represents the industry.
Ms. Northseyer affirmed both.
Senator Olson asked how this legislation would apply to small
restaurants located in small communities.
Ms. Ballard expressed the intention that all who handle raw food
would receive training in safe handling procedures. She stated that
the Department would ensure that training and testing activities
would not inconvenience owners and employees of businesses in small
communities.
Senator Dyson offered a motion to report the bill from Committee
with individual recommendations and accompanying fiscal notes.
There was no objection and HB 378 MOVED from Committee with zero
fiscal note #1 from the Department of Law and fiscal note #2 of
$210,700 from the Department of Environmental Conservation.
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