By ROBIN LEE  ALLEN

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Nov. 12, 2007 ) —“Collaboration” was the oft-repeated mantra of nearly 50 industry professionals gathered to discuss food safety trends and best practices at the recent Food Safety Symposium held here.

Peter Lehmuller, dean of culinary education at Johnson & Wales University, welcomes the attendees

Sponsored by Ecolab Inc. and produced by Nation’s Restaurant News, the three-day, invitation-only event allowed officials from a wide variety of restaurant companies to share their insights on such pressing topics as norovirus and produce safety as well as examine the growing importance of their collaboration with suppliers, local health officials, other departments within their firms, franchisees and even competitors.

“You need to have multifunctional collaboration from the farm to the fork,” said Deborah Page, executive director of quality assurance and technical services for Applebee’s International Inc., during a panel discussion titled “Supply Chain Management.”

She noted that effective collaboration depends on well-communicated strategies between numerous parties, including members of the supply chain and company officials from many departments, well-defined product specifications, and well-developed vendor relations.

Page recounted how collaboration helped the 1,947-unit casual-dining chain avert a sales disaster when spinach was implicated in a foodborne-illness outbreak during the fall of 2006.

Jack Quinn of Ecolab

“The spinach recall occurred during our general manager conference,” Page said, “and four days after the conference we were supposed to have a spinach promotion.”

The Overland Park, Kan.-based company immediately delayed the upcoming promotion to regroup and instructed managers at all locations to immediately discard all spinach—at that point Applebee’s had more than 65,000 pounds of spinach on the road and in warehouses and kitchens.

Representatives from departments ranging from culinary and training to communications and legal developed a replacement salad based on arugula, created food safety specifications, modified television and print advertising, and developed training related to the new promotion, she said.

While Page noted that much is likely to change at Applebee’s in coming months, given its pending acquisition by IHOP Corp., the company was able to react so quickly last fall because a few years earlier it had restructured its supply chain and purchasing practices, moving away from a system that was price-focused to one that concentrated on food safety, supply integrity and cost management.

More money was put into quality assurance, or QA, and one individual assumed responsibility for QA and purchasing, Page said. Applebee’s officials in purchasing and technical services also began working more closely together.

From left: Bobbie Cummins of Ecolab, Kevin Kelly of Sizzler International and Gary Lang of Corner Bakery

From left: Mikel Webe of Golden Corral, Stephen Brown of McAlister’s Corp., Bryan Silbermann of Produce Marketing Association and Katherine Swanson of Ecolab presented a session on Fresh Produce Safeguards: What’s practical?

In a similar vein, purchasing, product development and QA officials work in tandem at Lebanon, Tenn.-based Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores, said Bob Doyle, vice president of product development and quality assurance for the 562-unit family-dining chain. All three specialties have a say in selecting suppliers, although no product can be purchased until all QA requirements are met, he said. So while purchasing is always seeking lower-cost alternatives, QA makes sure that those alternatives comply with existing specifications and pass the chain’s testing protocol, he said.

“The breadth of the issues facing the restaurant industry shows why collaboration is so important,” said Donna Garren, vice president of health and safety regulatory affairs for the National Restaurant Association, during a keynote presentation to the group.

Matt Harding, Bravo Cucina Italiana, John Vogelmeier, Hyatt Select Hotels Group and Ben Eakin, student of Johnson & Wales University

JoAnne Brown of Classic Residence by Hyatt and Karen Omietanski, Kindred Healthcare

Along with nutrition issues, such as menu labeling and transfat bans, and the imminent release of the 2007 model food code, operators also need to worry about widespread food allergies, the increasing threat of viruses, and the safety of produce, seafood and imports.

Noting that leafy greens have always posed a food safety threat—there were 72 foodborne illness outbreaks from 1996 to 2006 associated with produce—she said the guidelines developed by the agriculture industry to ensure produce safety are insufficient.

“We believe voluntary programs are no longer enough,” she said. “We need a stronger regulatory framework.”

Stephen Shy of Max and Erma’s Restaurants

Tim Pickwell of Pickwell & Associates presented a session on best practices in negotiating purchasing contract agreements.

She also noted that President Bush had formed a senior-level interagency task force to address import safety. The group’s recommendations are expected in November.

During a panel called “Fresh Produce Safeguards: What is Practical?” operators discussed the steps they are taking to ensure the produce they deliver to the growing number of customers requesting it is safe.

All of the panel participants agreed that working with reputable produce suppliers who are committed to food safety is critical. At the nearly 500-unit Golden Corral family-dining chain, growers are required have in place programs promoting good agricultural practices, or GAP, HACCP and traceability, said Mikel Weber, vice president of purchasing and distribution for the Raleigh, N.C.-based company.

Jeanne Brungard of Il Fornaio

From left: Mark Smith of Denny’s, Bob Doyle of Cracker Barrel, Peter Romeo of Nation’s Restaurant News and Deborah Page of Applebee’s International

“These are all things you can’t do from a desk in Raleigh, that you can’t do from a desk anywhere,” Weber said. “You have to go out and visit.”

In addition, distributors are given detailed specifications and are subjected to third-party audits and on-site inspections to insure that their HACCP programs are solid and all products are from approved sources, he said.

Stephen Brown, senior director of support services for McAlister’s Corp., parent company of the 230-unit McAlister’s fast-casual deli chain, emphasized the importance of knowing produce suppliers—right down to inspecting warehouses and trucks.

Franchisees are held to the same standard, Brown said, and given detailed information on how to choose suppliers as well as on-site assistance.

At the unit level, the Ridgeland, Miss.-based chain requires that all managers be ServSafe certified and all staff members are trained in food safety basics, especially as they relate to receiving and storage, Brown said.

Because all produce used by McAlister’s, which specializes in sandwiches, is uncooked—meaning that it has no “kill step” to destroy pathogens—produce is treated as a ready-to-eat food and food handlers are trained to wash hands frequently, wear gloves and avoid cross-contamination through the use of separate cutting boards and utensils.

Aftan Romanczak of Steak-Out Franchising and Lionel Bisson of Friendly’s Ice Cream

From left: Mike Melby of Grandma’s Restaurant Company, Bob Burdick of Universal Orlando and John Yazel, student at Johnson & Wales University

To ensure compliance with food safety standards, the company relies on third-party audits for both units and suppliers, Brown said, adding that high performers are recognized and rewarded.

Given the high-profile foodborne-illness outbreaks related to produce in recent years, the produce industry has adopted many new measures to improve produce safety, said Bryan Silbermann, president of the Produce Marketing Association.

By ROBIN LEE  ALLEN

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Among these are the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement, whose standards were developed by academics and scientists. So far, about 99 percent of eligible companies have signed onto the agreement, through which government inspectors audit their practices related to water, wildlife and worker hygiene, Silbermann said. The standards have since been adopted by Arizona, another major growing area.

PMA also has helped to create the Center for Produce Safety at the University of California-Davis and is pushing for federal regulation of the produce industry, he said.

While no antimicrobial treatment can guarantee the total elimination of pathogens, there are a variety of chemicals available to operators looking for the best way to clean produce, said Katherine M.J. Swanson, vice president of food safety for Ecolab, in a presentation that elaborated on the benefits and drawbacks of chlorine, peracids, chlorine dioxide, ozone, acidified sodium chloride and organic acids such as acetic, citric and lactic acids.

Laura Joyner of Boddie-Noell Enterprises

From left: Bob Sherwood of Ecolab, Robin Lee Allen of Nation’s Restaurant News, Mike Starnes of Denny’s and Steve Grover of Burger King presented a session on Making the Case for Food Safety within your Organization.

Jennie Stenback, director of marketing communications for Ecolab’s institution division, detailed the company’s efforts to protect the environment while promoting food safety. She cited such steps as using concentrates and thereby requiring less water and less fuel to ship the materials. Chemicals are still necessary to kill pathogens—“you can’t talk the bacteria into giving up,” she wryly observed—but suppliers are trying to find a way to minimize the environmental impact, Stenback said.

The growing threat of norovirus and the difficulty of eradicating it once it shows up in restaurants was the topic of a panel titled “Norovirus: Can Best Practices at the Unit Level be Your Best Preventative Measure?”

Ecolab’s Swanson said nearly 23 million cases of the disease, which causes vomiting and diarrhea, occur in the United States annually. Because norovirus is so virulent, common and easy to spread, it is one of the biggest food safety concerns now facing operators, she said, noting that incidence rates are going up and two new strains of the virus have been identified.

From left: Dr. Hal King of Chick-fil-A, Jack Frazier of Holland America Cruiseline and Dr. Katherine Swanson of Ecolab presented a session on Norovirus: Can Best Practices at the Unit Level be Your Best Presentative Measure?

Jennie Stenback of Ecolab and Tom Klosowski, attorney from Flynn, Gaskins & Bennet

Jack Frazier, deputy director of fleet training for Holland America Line, shared some of his company’s best practices for dealing with a virus that has tarnished the reputation of many a cruise-ship line. Among the most important steps restaurateurs can take to reduce norovirus outbreaks in their operations are to limit the points of contact between customers, such as eliminating salt and pepper shakers; encourage frequent hand washing among employees and customers; and properly using the appropriate disinfectants to clean surfaces, especially when a person throws up in a restaurant. “One-thousand parts per million bleach only works for 20 minutes,” he said. “Then you need to make a new batch.”

Frazier also recounted how Holland America is dealing with pens, a potential point of contamination since norovirus can pass from hand to pen and to another hand. The cruise line now keeps its pens in red and green containers. Servers delivering a check or otherwise having a guest sign for a charge take a sanitized pen from the green container. After it’s used, the pen goes into the red container, until it can be sanitized and returned to the green bin.

Regularly scheduled and thorough cleanings of bathrooms, dining rooms, kitchens and play areas also are crucial in reducing the chances of spreading norovirus, said Hal King, head of food and product safety for 1,300-unit Chick-fil-A Inc. in Atlanta.

Bill Moore of Eat’n Park

Rebecca Kimpflein of Texas Roadhouse

He noted that employees need to be trained that the tools used in cleaning the restrooms and kitchens of a restaurant should be used in their respective areas, to avert cross-contamination. In addition, when someone throws up in a restaurant, the vomit should be quickly covered to reduce aerosols, cleaned with appropriate chemicals and then put into garbage bins outside the restaurant. Chick-fil-A employees exposed to the incident also are sent home, he said. Similarly, employees who have been sick or have been exposed to sick family members are required to tell their supervisors about the circumstances so they can be sent home, if necessary.

In addition, Chick-fil-A is placing hand sanitizer wipes within its dining rooms to promote hygiene among patrons, particularly parents dining with a child, he said. Cleaning the hands of a child who comes out of a restaurant’s play area lessens the chances that norovirus picked up from a playground surface could be transported to a food eaten by hand, like chicken nuggets.

Despite numerous headline-grabbing food safety incidents, getting the proper funding for food safety efforts is not always easy, agreed operators in a panel discussion titled “Making the Case for Food Safety Within Your Organization.”

Lisa Schweickert of Golden Corral

Andrew Flanders of Panera Bread

Steven Grover, vice president of food safety, quality assurance and regulatory compliance for Burger King Corp., said he makes it a point to use media coverage of foodborne-illness outbreaks to build his case for more food safety resources. He noted that his food safety message is brief and repeated in every conversation he has with his bosses.

“You have to have a communications strategy for up and down the organization,” Grover said. “Don’t forget the guys you work for.”

Mike Starnes, vice president of food safety, quality assurance and brand standards for Denny’s Corp., sells the family-dining chain’s food safety program as a competitive advantage as well as a legal responsibility. He indicated that Denny’s quality assurance program has enabled the company to lower its insurance costs.

Kimberly Jaymer of Buca Inc.

Chef Bill Brizas of Johnson & Wales, Alan Gould of Nation’s Restaurant News and chef Richard Calenda of Johnson & Wales

Starnes,a former college football coach, stressed the importance of teamwork in drafting and executing a food-safety program. That collaboration should even extend to regulators, he suggested. “You’ve got to bring them into the house,” Starnes said. “If we’re going to improve, we need to do this together.”

Symposium attendees received advice from two attorneys on separate topics. Tim Pickwell of Pickwell & Associates discussed purchasing contracts and the importance of having up-to-date contracts that clearly outline expected behaviors and do not limit remedies. He noted that suppliers should be insured and restaurant companies should be designated “additional named insured.” He added that contracts should include warranties, detailed food safety specifications, clearly defined delivery procedures and the right to perform audits.

Tom Klosowski of Flynn, Gaskins, Benett explored what happens when the best-laid food safety strategies don’t work. He noted that there is a plaintiff’s bar that specializes in suing vendors, so restaurateurs need to have in place a crisis management plan that will protect them from becoming a target. Most important, he said, is immediately alerting health department officials to foodborne-illness outbreaks and working in coalition with them.

“When something like this happens, not only do you have no friends, no allies, you also have no credibility,” he said.

However, collaborating with health officials can both build credibility and limit an operator’s exposure, he added.

While days were filled with food safety discussions, nights were designed for networking and relaxing. One evening, attendees donned toques and prepared an elaborate meal at the Charlotte campus of Johnson & Wales University. Working alongside J&W students and under the direction of two chef instructors, attendees produced multicourse meals featuring such offerings as mushroom ravioli with Gorgonzola cream sauce, steak Diane and chocolate molten lava cakes.