Assisted Living Food Service Managers Learn About Food Recall ...( ROSEMONT Ill. Sept. 18 /-...),Health

ROSEMONT, Ill., Sept. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Food service managers - especially those in the assisted living and healthcare industry - must be prepared to respond to the growing number of food recalls and to prevent food-borne illnesses from affecting their clients. To respond to this critical need, the Assisted Living Association of Alabama included a briefing on food recalls by Jorge Hernandez, senior vice president, food safety and quality assurance for U.S. Foodservice, at its 2009 Fall Conference, September 16-17 in Mobile, AL. U.S. Foodservice is a major food distributor to assisted living and healthcare facilities in Alabama and throughout the United States. The company works in partnership with its customers to provide safe food and help customers to follow best practices during food storage and preparation.

"The number of Class I food recalls in 2009 has already increased nearly ten-fold compared with all of 2006," Hernandez said. He explained that the FDA defines a Class I recall as a situation in which the food in question has a reasonable probability to cause serious adverse health consequences or death.

Hernandez explained that the number of Class I recalls has increased exponentially due to a number of factors including the fact that the number of available food items has more than doubled in the past decade; improved science is able to identify micro-organisms at a much lower level; the CDC can now trace food-borne illnesses faster and more accurately; and a higher level of consumer and regulatory awareness through increased media reporting of recalls and outbreaks.

"The good news for healthcare food service managers is that leading food distributors also have increased their ability to identify suspected products and communicate recall information to their customers," Hernandez said.

"In addition, managers must quickly determine if they have r
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