LYNN — The City of Lynn’s Public Health Division, in collaboration with Inspectional Services, is establishing a food safety committee to help restaurant and food business owners understand health regulations, and allow them to provide input in setting rules and regulations.
Public Health Director Lisa Tobin said the division participates in the Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (Retail Program Standards) through the FDA in regards to its food safety inspections in the city.
“As far as the standards program, we are working on safety policies and procedures and we are looking for input from people that it will affect,” Tobin said.
She said the department will be setting policies based on risk-based food inspections, such as how many repeat violations a business can commit before it is put on a risk-control plan.
“We want to talk through those kinds of questions with businesses and establishments just to give them the sense of being able to be a part of it and understand where it’s coming from,” Tobin added.
Tobin said the city has participated in the Retail Program Standards for approximately three years. The standards, though voluntary, are a requirement to follow to be an accredited public health department. They are intended to reinforce proper sanitation, good retail practices, and operational and environmental prerequisite programs, while encouraging regulatory agencies and industry to focus on the factors that cause and contribute to foodborne illness.
The Public Health Division hosted an informational meeting with the North Shore Latino Business Association (NSLBA) on Tuesday to teach local business owners about membership and discuss the retail standards and risk control plans.
President of the NSLBA Frances Martinez said the committee was important because the diversity of the city’s business community is large, and sometimes the regulations are not easy to understand.
“We have so much cultural food in the community,” she said. “Which I think makes a good definition of community.”
Tobin said she hopes this is a great program for the city.
“I think having something like this in place ensures that everybody feels like they know what to expect, that everybody’s being treated equally, and it just improves our whole food scene,” Tobin said.
