Public Service Announcement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date:Tuesday, November 2, 1999
Contact:Rob Pritchett, (703) 838-4881, Director of Environmental Health, Alexandria Health Department; Angelita Plemmer, City Manager's Office, (703) 838-4300

New Food Code Proposed for Northern Virginia

ADDITIONAL CONSUMER PROTECTION INCLUDED

The cities of Alexandria, Falls Church and Fairfax and the counties of Arlington and Fairfax will soon be introducing legislation to adopt the 1999 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Model Food Code.

The Model Food Code is a reference document for regulatory agencies (Health Departments) responsible for overseeing food safety in retail outlets such as restaurants and grocery stores and institutions such as nursing homes and child care centers.

The City of Alexandria will propose final adoption of the proposal at its November 13 public hearing. The proposed code is intended to govern the safe preparation, handling and cooking of foods offered to consumers. The impetus for the adoption of the Model Food Code is the whole-hearted belief in the FDA's assertion that, "It is a shared responsibility of the food industry and the government to ensure that food provided to the consumer is safe and does not become a vehicle in a disease outbreak or in the transmission of communicable disease. This shared responsibility extends to ensuring that consumer expectations are met and that food is unadulterated, prepared in a clean
environment, and is honestly presented."

The 1999 FDA Model Food Code will replace the 1997 version adopted by the Northern Virginia jurisdictions two years ago. It will address the controls for certain risk factors that have been identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as contributors to foodborne outbreaks. Those factors are unsafe sources; inadequate cooking; improper holding; contaminated equipment; and poor personal hygiene. It further establishes key public health interventions, among them the Consumer Advisory.

The Consumer Advisory provision focuses on informing consumers of the significantly increased risk associated with certain especially vulnerable consumers eating raw or undercooked animal foods.

According to Rob Pritchett, Director of Environmental Health for the Alexandria Health Department, the importance of Consumer Advisories can not be overemphasized.

"It is every consumers right to know that the consumption of some foods, depending on what ingredients it contains or how it is cooked, could jeopardize their health as well as the health of their children," Pritchett said. "It is a well-known fact that certain foodborne illnesses, such as E.coli 0157:H7, affect the young and elderly more severely than healthy adults and that persons with certain medical conditions should not consume raw or undercooked foods."

The Consumer Advisory provision will take the form of written information on menus, table tents, placards, or other effective written means.