Phobic About Food: The Restaurant Double Whammy

Contaminated Food Imports, Unscreened
Illegal Immigrants Imperil Restaurant Diners

By Alice Shane


For a moment, forget the brouhaha over transfats and think bacteria, botulism, E.coli, microbes, pathogens – bad things that can happen to restaurant food and, ultimately, to you.

This is an issue I’ve been concerned about since coming home one evening after dinner at an expensive restaurant and having to reach for the Imodium. It occurred to me that, perhaps, I should eat out less often. I’ve been sporting aprons and consulting cook books with greater frequency ever since.

Think food imports -- contaminated pet food may be the first wave of a potential food time bomb. The FDA isn’t prepared to protect you, let alone your cat or dog. Nine-million shipments of imported food arrived in the USA last year, landing on your table and in restaurants. But the FDA inspected less than 1% of those imports. Anytime you sit down to dinner, you’re dining on at least three different types of imported food – say, poultry from Mexico, lettuce from Guatemala, seafood, asparagus and broccoli from China.

Let’s assume that, when preparing food at home, you thoroughly wash veggies, fruit, seafood –precautions you can’t count on at restaurants. The gruesome reality is, a lot of imported produce is tainted with human fertilizer and toxic chemicals that are illegal in this country.

Frozen fish imported from China has been found to be contaminated with veterinary antibiotics or turned back for being just plain filthy. Poisonous puffer fish, mislabeled as monkfish by Chinese exporters, has already reached our shores, sickened people and, supposedly, withdrawn from distribution.

Now, think illegal immigrants. According to labor statistics, 24% are engaged in food preparation – and ignorant about sanitation. I’m not talking about crop workers, although that’s a major concern. I’m referring to illegals who work in restaurants as fryers, cooks, dishwashers. And I’m not talking Taco Bell. Illegals work behind the scenes in upscale restaurants, too – a well-known national chain of pricey steakhouses comes to mind.

Think tuberculosis, polio, leprosy, typhoid – diseases that largely disappeared years ago but are now being reintroduced by illegals, according to the Centers for Disease Control. There’s also hepatitis, influenza, malaria, mumps, SARS, cholera, dengue fever, Chagas’ disease to worry about if you’re a disease phoebe like me.

Unlike legal immigrants who must submit to medical examinations before entering our population, illegals working in restaurants (or picking crops) have not been immunized against communicable diseases, nor are they medically screened before they sneak into the US. Restaurant owners are not required to certify that food workers are disease free. Ask yourself, is a food handler at your favorite restaurant spreading a particularly virulent form of TB known as Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis endemic to Mexico? Who will ever know?

Illegals employed in restaurants may or may not be trained in the nuances of hand washing and the wearing of rubber gloves, though restaurant owners are mandated to instruct kitchen workers and waiters in these precautions. A New Jersey restaurant inspector tells me there’s so much turnover among restaurant employees that many owners and managers avoid going through the sanitation drill.

So where does all this gloom and doom leave you, the food consumer and restaurant junkie? Stay tuned.

© 2007; Alice Shane/Alice Shane Communications. All rights reserved.

Castle Hill Inn, Newport, RI

NOT YOUR ORDINARY GETAWAY

Alice Shane

You won’t discover Castle Hill Inn between the pages of Budget Travel Magazine, though it is mentioned in Travel & Leisure as one of the Top 500 Greatest Hotels in the World. For good reason: it’s rooms and beach cottages have spectacular views facing the ocean and Narragansett Bay, impeccable service and a fine restaurant offering gourmet breakfasts and dinners.

Admittedly, it’s quiet now in Newport – yachters have yet to moor their boats in the city’s marinas and many of the Gilded Age mansions Newport is famous for are still closed to tourists. But we were only too happy to avoid crowds, check out sailboats offered for sale at the Oyster boatyard and to luxuriate in our cozy Harbor House accommodations where we had an up close view of the Narragansett. We also planned to indulge our passion for seafood.

Our comfortable, immaculate room, priced at off-season rates, had a gas fireplace --the perfect warmer-upper on cool evenings and chilly mornings. Thick terry bathrobes hung in the closet, cookies were on a night table when we arrived and chocolates appeared at turndown time. True, the bathroom was tiny and the hand-held shower required a learning curve, but there were generous bottles of toiletries and plenty of ultra thick towels.

Dinner in the Inn’s dining room offers a fabulous, panoramic view of the Narragansett and an eclectic Southwestern/New England menu -- expensive, of course -- our three-course price-fixed dinner tallied up to $222.00 after taxes and gratuity – a drop in the bucket compared to the 5-course and 8-course tasting menus accompanied by wine which could easily skyrocket to $300-$400 for a couple.

But the service was impeccable and the food good (though not exceptional). We ordered the pan-seared scallops appetizer and the chile-barbecue glazed grilled cold water lobster tail entrée. Dessert was chocolate fondue with assorted fruits, petit fours and cookies – all dippable and yum yum.

Gourmet breakfasts, included in the cost of the room, offer an extravagance of delicious choices – eggs benedict with smoked salmon and Portabella mushrooms, lobster hash, “create your own omelets,” freshly baked breads, miniature coffee cakes --- all graciously served by attentive waiters.

If you’re yearning for a great escape from the hustle of urban life, this is it.

© 2007; Alice Shane/Alice Shane Communications. All rights reserved.