Welcome to Government Watch, a weekly Restaurant Business column focused on regulation, legislation, labor mandates and other governmental issues of relevance to the restaurant industry. This week's edition looks at several developments on the food-safety front, including a proposal for the complete overhaul of the federal system for safeguarding the supply chain.
Three prominent members of Congress have called for revamping the way food is safeguarded in the U.S., a development that could realize safety advocates’ longtime call for consolidating federal protections under a single watchdog agency.
The introduction of legislation creating a single federal food-safety agency follows a flurry of food contaminations this summer, including an ongoing listeria contamination that’s been traced to deli meats. Restaurants have been touched by several of the outbreaks, including a salmonella contamination of cucumbers that sickened more than 300 people.
No one is suggesting a reorganization of the food safety net would prevent future outbreaks. But critics of the current set-up—multiple watchdogs, each monitoring a different portion of the food supply chain—is inefficient and illogical. They cite a hypothetical problem with pizza as an illustration. If a contamination is traced to the pepperoni used as a topping, the U.S. Department of Agriculture would have oversight. If the imported tomato sauce was the suspect ingredient, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has the responsibility of ensuring bad batches are intercepted. If it’s the processed cheese or the crust that’s the focus, the Food & Drug Administration has jurisdictions.
In total, 16 federal agencies have a role in protecting the nation’s food supply, from the National Marine Fisheries Service to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The twin bills introduced Tuesday by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Connecticut and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, would consolidate those agencies and others that wield food-safety oversight into a single entity, the Federal Food Administration. It would be part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, was a co-sponsor of the Senate version of the measure.
Food-safety advocates have been calling for a similar move for years. They’ve been thwarted by the sheer scale of the task, plus the political considerations of shearing power from the current watchdogs.
The new conversation comes as debate continues over a monumental food-safety move that will affect all restaurants, along with supermarkets, c-stores or any other business that sells food. A new law mandates that all parties in the food chain have a precisely detailed traceability program in place by 2026. All links in the chain would be required to have information readily available on their food sources and who next received the products.
The near-universal expectation is that the enactment date will be pushed back because of the logistic effort that’s involved.
A new use for diverted tips?
Tipping regulations are so complex that even the best-intentioned restaurateurs might find themselves in violation. But the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) contends that wasn’t the case with the operators of three well-known restaurants in the outskirts of Houston. The department has sued the proprietors of Tejas Chocolate & BBQ and Tejas Burger Joint for allegedly siphoning off servers’ tips to offset the cost of condiments and to-go packaging and other business expenses.
The suit seeks back wages and liquidated damages for past and current employees who allegedly had their tips diverted. DOL said at least a portion of the workers’ tips were taken by management between May 2021 through May 2023.
Efforts to reach the restaurants’ parent companies, Tejas Chocolate and Texas Dragon Cos., were unsuccessful.
Massachusetts’ new pork supply rule is upheld
The restaurant industry has been on a roll of sorts in litigation, prevailing in its landmark case to thwart the National Labor Relations Board from routinely regarding franchisor and franchisee as joint employers of licensees’ staffs. Even the U.S. Supreme Court has come down on the industry’s side, ruling in Starbucks’ favor in a case that effectively handcuffed the NLRB.
But its batting average took a hit with the decision last week by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts on what pork can be sold in the Bay State. A pig farmer in Missouri had joined forces with several other stakeholders to challenge a ban on the sale of pork from pigs that were raised in small pens and under conditions regarded as inhumane. The lawsuit alleged that the state mandate was in effect pre-empted by the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the nationwide standard on what meat should be allowed on the market.
But the District Court ruled that the Massachusetts ban wasn’t based on concerns about public safety. Rather, it had been approved by voters in a referendum, and hence reflected the preferences of residents. The ban was sustained.
For restaurants, the upshot is likely to be upward pressure on pork prices within the state, since the ruling limits supplies at least until pig farmers can adjust their facilities to meet the new husbandry standards.
Maryland’s Montgomery County simplifies and extends food-safety certification
Restaurateurs complain that development has become more difficult post-pandemic because of soaring construction costs and the migraine of securing all the permits and governmental okays that are now required. Montgomery County, Maryland’s most populous region, took a small but significant step earlier this month to ease the burden.
County lawmakers have approved a measure that streamlines the process of getting a license for a new restaurant. No longer do applicants have to submit such documentation as a picture of themselves or a transcript from their food-safety course; the certificate of completion is sufficient.
Once the place is up and running, food handlers won’t have to re-up their safety certifications every three years, as previously required. The certification now remains valid for five years.
Correction: An earlier version of this column failed to identify Sen. Richard Blumenthal as a co-sponsor with Durbin of the Senate bill.
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