Peter Chang, owner of Duck Chang Restaurant in Annandale, VA, was recently recognized by Fairfax County for demonstrating excellent active managerial control in food safety.
Over the past 10 months, the Health Department food safety inspectors have recognized Duck Chang and a dozen other food establishments for their excellent oversight of food safety practices.
Notably, Duck Chang was the only independently owned restaurant to receive such recognition.
The other restaurants who received recognition were Applebees, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, La Madeleine, Bertucci’s, Aramark, Honey Baked Ham and Panera Bread.
This is the criteria that the Health Department utilized for the selection: 1) setting policies for food safety; 2) training food service staff on policies; 3) verifying that the policies are being followed; and 4) having corrective actions in place when the policies are not followed.
From the Fairfax County Health Department
The current awardees manage different food service operations, yet there are some strong similarities in what each is doing to use AMC to reduce the risk of foodborne illness. Food safety policies are set by the person in charge. This
person is very knowledgeable about food safety and understands the importance of using AMC to share food safety responsibility with employees. All of
the managers put a strong emphasis on employee training, with a focus on handwashing (when and how) and employee health (knowing symptoms of foodborne illness). These managers also encourage their staff to keep records to monitor food and equipment temperatures, set cleaning schedules, check sanitizer strength and calibrate thermometers, among other activities. In addition, the latest AMC awardees use date marking regularly – a food date system indicating when to discard prepared foods.
The list of current award winners highlights an example of active managerial controls used in their establishment to reduce the risk of foodborne illness. Congratulations to all!