Expand DineSafe to daycares, nursing homes, says health czar
Twenty months after a Ryerson University/Star investigation revealed serious gaps in the city’s heralded DineSafe program, Toronto’s medical officer of health is proposing reforms to fill them. Dr. David McKeown is recommending city council expand DineSafe to food-serving institutions including daycares, hospitals, nursing homes and school cafeterias. They would have to prominently display green (pass), yellow (cautionary pass) or red (fail) health inspection results.
McKeown also wants the notices posted for public pool and spa water tests.
Expanding DineSafe disclosure “will increase compliance with health and safety requirements and result in improved public health,” he states in a report released Monday.
About 2,000 food-serving institutions are not covered by stringent DineSafe requirements introduced 14 years ago and credited with reducing dangerous health violations by Toronto restaurants.
Because daycares, hospitals, nursing homes and other institutions “serve vulnerable populations, they are considered high-risk food premises requiring at least three compliance inspections annually,” the report states.
“It is anticipated that requiring the owners of these premises to (post) inspection notices . . . will improve compliance with food safety regulations and result in improved food safety in premises where foodborne illness outbreaks sometimes occur.”
In 2013, a Ryerson School of Journalism/Toronto Star probe revealed that almost 330 provincially licensed facilities in Toronto had been cited for health violations in the previous three years — unbeknownst to elderly residents, young children and families of those who ate there.
The probe highlighted one daycare near Ossington Ave. and Harbord St., that had 11 food safety violations be- tween 2010 and 2013, and a recurring mouse problem. Inspection reports for a Scarborough long-term care home revealed a history of cockroaches in the kitchen.
The public, including those using those facilities, were largely kept in the dark. As a result of the Ryerson/ Star investigation, Toronto Public Health started releasing online a two-year history of the inspection results. “You guys get the credit for pushing us to disclose,” Toronto Public Health food safety manager Jim Chan said at the time.
However, institutions were not forced to display green, yellow or red signs at their entrances.
McKeown’s proposed bylaw would expand DineSafe to “premises where food or milk is manufactured, processed, prepared, stored, handled, displayed, distributed, transported, sold or offered for sale, but does not include a private residence.” On public swimming pools and spas, McKeown’s report notes they are inspected under the city’s comprehensive recreational water program, that owner-operators are notified of infractions and can be ordered closed.
Still, people dipping into the water would currently have no idea about infractions that don’t constitute a health hazard, but have the potential for becoming an “imminent health and safety risk” if left uncorrected for more than 48 hours.
If council adopts the proposed bylaw, an infraction such as not having an adequate supply of disinfecting chemicals could result in a yellow pass to be publicly displayed at the pool or spa.
The proposed bylaw will go to the public health board next Monday, which will decide whether to pass it on to council in its current or amended form.