CLARK COUNTY FOOD NEWS
September 2018 Issue 1
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Responding to Foodborne Illnesses
When Clark County Public Health receives illness reports from the public, a nurse from our Communicable Disease (CD) team will interview the individual to try and determine what made them ill. A series of questions are asked including:
- When did the individual become ill?
- How long were they ill?
- What are their symptoms?
They will also be asked to:
- Provide a complete food history.
- List any recent travels.
- Report any ill family members.
- Present any lab reports.
- Note any other possible exposures.
The CD team will analyze the symptom profile, illness duration, and incubation period to determine the most likely pathogen. Incubation period is the span of time between when the person is first exposed to when they first start exhibiting symptoms. Bacteria, viruses, and chemicals that cause illness all have unique properties to them that can help investigators determine the identity of the suspected pathogen. Certain pathogens can also have common routes of exposure for example;
Vibriosis
is an illness specific to ingesting undercooked or raw shellfish.
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Clark County Public Health will declare an outbreak if two or more individuals from separate households not sharing any common meals are linked to the same exposure point and illness with a statistical certainty. If that occurs, the CD and the Food Safety team will do an investigation to determine whether the point of exposure presents an ongoing risk to health and will intervene in order to stop the spread of disease
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The investigation will involve a site visit to the facility that consists of taking samples of food implicated in the outbreak, interviewing managers and staff, along with correcting any violations that could have contributed to the outbreak. If an outbreak has been conclusively linked to a facility, it will be closed and cleaned in order for CCPH to implement control measures to stop the spread of disease.
Once the facility has conducted a deep cleaning and items that could have contributed to the outbreak are removed, the facility will be reopened to the public to continue serving safe food!
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Service Animals in Food Establishments
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Pets are not allowed in food service establishments with the exception of dogs trained to perform a specific task to aid a person’s disability. Washington State Law (RCW 49.60.040) defines service animals as an “animal that is trained for the purpose of assisting or accommodating a disabled person’s sensory, mental, or physical disability” including guide dogs, disability dogs, and miniature horses. Pet owners may knowingly, or unknowingly, misrepresent their pet as a service animal. However, a household pet typically does not receive any training more than obedience training, while emotional support and guard dogs are used for their innate characteristics and do not perform any definitive skill in order to do their duty
. Compassion, emotional support, therapy, and guard animals are therefore not protected by regulations and are not permitted on the grounds of a food establishment
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It is the responsibility of the person in charge (PIC) or management to address an individual with a pet to ensure it is a service animal. To determine whether a dog is a service animal, the two following questions can be asked:
- Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability? and
- What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?
An animal may be excluded if:
- The handler discloses their disability, but refuses to disclose what the animal is trained to do for them.
- The handler provides documentation or certification that the animal is a service animal, but neither the documentation nor the handler can explain what the animal is trained to do. (There is no state or federal service animal registry or certification process, so such documentation has no legal meaning and is often purchased on the Internet.)
- The handler answers only that the animal can sit, stay, lie down, come when called, or do something else related to obedience and good manners, this does not indicate the animal is trained to provide services for a disability.
- The handler answers that the animal makes them feel better, helps them calm down, eases their depression, or something similar, this would indicate that it is the animal’s presence alone that helps the handler, and that the animal is not trained to do a task or provide a service. This would not meet the training requirement within the Washington State Law.
A service animal may
not be excluded:
- If the handler answers that the animal is trained to guide them, help with balance or mobility, alert them to a condition (either physical or situational), pick up or carry items, remind them to take medication, get help, stabilize them during a seizure, redirect their attention from a trigger, or do some other task or provide some service that the person is unable to do themselves or helps with a disability, then the animal is a trained service dog and must be allowed.
It is important that pets are excluded due to abuse of the law causing legitimate service animals and their handlers to be excluded from food establishments or injured by pets present within the facility.
Washington State aims to help food establishments prevent false service animals from entering food establishments by instituting House Bill 2822 starting in January of 2019 that would be make falsely portraying a pet as a service animal a civil infraction punishable up to a $500 fine.
For more information and resources, please check our website at the link below.
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Call 564-397-8083 to report an illness or file a complaint about food handling processes.
For more information about the services we provide, please click the button to reach our Food Safety homepage.
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Clark County Public Health
1601 E Fourth Plain, Building 17
Vancouver, WA 98661
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