Would Your Own Kitchen Pass A Health Department Inspection?
How clean is your kitchen?
Probably not as sanitary as you think.
A recent study completed by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (“LACDPH”) found that only about 61% of home kitchens would receive an “A” or “B” grade if inspected like a restaurant, and at least 14% would flunk.
To put this in perspective, 98% of L.A. County restaurants received an A or B following inspections between 2006 and 2008, and any restaurants that failed were subject to closure.
There is an interesting background leading up to this study. If you have ever been to an L.A. County restaurant, then you have probably noticed a placard posted by the door with a fairly large A or B or crimson C. Beginning in 1998, L.A. County restaurants were required to display their health inspection grade to patrons. The result of this disclosure? By the end of 1998, the number of hospitalizations for food-borne illness was down by 13% in L.A. County.
The LACDPH enhanced these food safety efforts by introducing the Home Kitchen Self-Inspection Program in 2006 to encourage food safety practices in the home.
The program included an online Food Safety Quiz comprised of 57 questions developed around the USDA food safety principles of clean, separate, cook and chill. The quiz asked about food handling and preparation practices at home, but the questions were similar to the standards used to evaluate restaurants.
Approximately 13,000 adults voluntarily completed the quiz between 2006 and 2008; 34% received an A, 27% a B, 25% a C, and 14% failed. Thus, about one in seven homes deserved an “F” placard placed on their front door.
Granted, this study has some limitations. The quiz was only available online and in English. And obviously, the letter grades are based on respondent self-reports and not actual physical inspections of the home kitchens.
However, one such limitation makes the results even more frightening. People who are more interested in, and possibly more knowledgeable about, food safety were more likely to have taken the quiz. Letter grades aside,
- 64% of quiz respondents admitted that when cooking big portions of food to serve later, they did not rapidly cool and store it in a refrigerator;
- 36% of respondents did not have a properly working thermometer in their refrigerator; and
- 33% of respondents did not store raw meat below all other foods in the refrigerator.
Studies continue to evidence there is much more work to be done in educating our consumers. This study referenced how web-based learning tools (i.e. Meat Safety, Meat Matters Info, FSIS) are becoming ever more important in education.
In any event, I suppose, it’s fitting that the research was released during National Food Safety Education Month. Thus, moving forward, let's work to heighten awareness of food safety practices and help make not only the places we produce food, but also the places we prepare it, more sanitary and safe.
