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 PAGE THREE - WisconsinReport.com - FEBRUARY 2, 2004
STORIES IN THE FEBRUARY 2, 2004 ISSUE

Wisconsin Restaurant Association:
Don't Let Wisconsin
Fall Behind on Food Safety

With all eyes on the beef industry, The Wisconsin Restaurant Association's official stand is that it is hard to imagine another food safety battle taking place right here in our state. It hasn’t garnered as much media attention, but the outcome could be even more important for consumers. Some groups are fighting the proposal.

By following national standards and requiring a nationally-accredited exam, Wisconsin can strengthen recertification’s important role in ensuring food handlers have up-to-date knowledge of basic food safety practices.

The group that has long set the nation’s food safety standards, the National Conference for Food Protection (NCFP), states that an individual must be recertified by testing through an accredited organization.

Wisconsin has always been a leader in food safety. In the past, the state has not only followed the rigorous guidelines set by the NCFP, but has frequently led the rest of the country in doing so. Yet, as of September 2003, only three states recertify via continuing education, including Wisconsin and Minnesota. In contrast, 46 states and/or local jurisdictions recertify by examination.

“Five years is too long in terms of food safety advances to simply sit through instruction,” insists Wisconsin Restaurant Association (WRA) President Ed Lump. “It’s critical that recertification of food protection managers involve actual learning, and the NCFP says the best way to do that is to test.”

One example of changing safe food practices is temperature. Safe temperatures and/or times for hot holding, cooking and cooling have changed in the past five years; vital information for nearly every type of foodservice establishment.

WRA is proud to have led the successful 1995 effort to mandate accredited initial certification for food protection managers, as well as the five-year recertification requirement. Currently, every licensed foodservice establishment must have one certified food protection manager on staff. (In Milwaukee, a separate ordinance requires a certified manager to be on duty at all times food is prepared and served.)

How initial certification/recertification work

Currently, passing a nationally-accredited exam is required to receive initial certification as a food protection manager in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin law requires food protection managers to recertify every five years. However, this process currently involves a simple certificate of completion rather than an exam. There is a quiz administered at the end of class that is self-corrected, exchanged with another student or corrected by the instructor.

While the expertise of the course instructors and quality of curriculum are not in question, the fact remains that a certificate of completion (even with a quiz) is not the same as an accredited exam. In fact, the courts hold that non-accredited quizzes are not legally defensible, should certification be questioned in a lawsuit.

Objections to the proposed rule change

Opposition to amending the recertification requirements has come from industry groups that view any cost increase as objectionable.

Nationally-accredited exams, which cost more to administer, will mean a slightly greater investment by operators every five years. In addition, the proposal includes a small fee increase to support the state registry of certified food protection managers, used by inspectors to verify statutory compliance. This increase is essentially $3 per year or $15 over a five-year period. 29 states maintain such a registry, with an average operator fee of $22. The increase would bring Wisconsin’s registry fee to $25.

Lump disagrees with the claim that these costs will create hardship for mom and pop operators. He notes that this would be the first fee increase since the registry was established nine years ago, asking: “What price would you place on the safety of your food?”

“When it comes to public safety,” Lump continues, “you can’t compromise. A single lapse has the potential to drive a restaurant out of business, and to reverberate throughout a community, and even the country. By advocating the highest food safety standards, we’re protecting the viability of our industry. And, given the role of tourism and hospitality in our state, we’re protecting Wisconsin’s economy, too.”
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