Enforcement programs have always been required to monitor the safety of the public and there are plenty of statistics that show an increase in compliance with established regulations as a result of enforcement. I believe that it is important to implement a mandatory food safety training requirement for all restaurant employees. The health department can enforce regulations, but education always comes before enforcement. If restaurant employees are not educated in the proper food handling, preparation, and proper cleaning procedures in the kitchen then they most likely won’t understand why it is important to follow established protocols. This will guarantee failure of any type of standard enforcement inspections. Most public health departments have limited resources to perform inspections and therefore establishments may only get inspected one to six times per year depending on certain risk factors associated with the number and type of foods served. According to (National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse, 2012)” Foods may also be contaminated with bacteria during food preparation in a restaurant or home kitchen. If food preparers do not thoroughly wash their hands, kitchen utensils, cutting boards, and other kitchen surfaces that come into contact with raw foods, cross-contamination—the spread of bacteria from contaminated food to uncontaminated food—may occur. If hot food is not kept hot enough or cold food is not kept cold enough, bacteria may multiply. Bacteria multiply quickly when the temperature of food is between 40 and 140 degrees. Cold food should be kept below 40 degrees and hot food should be kept above 140 degrees. Bacteria multiply more slowly when food is refrigerated, and freezing food can further slow or even stop the spread of bacteria. However, bacteria in refrigerated or frozen foods become active again when food is brought to room temperature. Thoroughly cooking food kills bacteria.”
Worker behaviors may promote or compromise food safety. Why don’t food handlers wash their hands? Why are raw meats stored over ready-to-eat foods? Why isn’t that food stored at the required temperatures? These questions address just a couple of worker behaviors that compromise food safety. Why do workers do what they do? Often it is because of one’s opinion of the perception of the seriousness of the impact, one’s opinion of an action or confidence in one’s ability to take action. Most workers will state that they didn’t realize the possible dangers or weren’t educated on the importance of cleanly procedures. The way to influence behaviors to achieve an acceptable change is to specify the consequences, increase awareness of a need for change, promote awareness and employ reminder systems, provide training and guidance in performing the action, use verbal reinforcement, and demonstrate desired behaviors. In order to accomplish these things the following must be done, demonstrate proper hand washing, use examples of restaurant foodborne outbreaks, involve the staff in mock inspections, and possibly have weekly meetings to re-emphasize key food protection points. When this occurs you will have a restaurant staff that not only exhibits proper worker behavior, but also understands why it is important. Food safety is an extremely important issue, due to the times per week the average American eats out. Cooking at home is a rarity for most families, as the busy life style is the norm in this society. We are eating tons of poultry, seafood, fruits and vegetables. While this is conducive to a healthier lifestyle it presents greater challenges when it comes to food safety. Mandating educational programs and professional training for restaurant employees is the best way to limit the spread of foodborne illness and will ultimately enhance food safety practices. This in turn will be reflected in a reduction of reportable public health illnesses that occur as a result of improper food preparation or handling and be evident during future enforcement inspections. Now I will be discussing the second point of this paper. According to MedicineNet.com (2012) “Vectors are a carrier of disease or of medication. For example, in malaria a mosquito is the vector that carries and transfers the infectious agent”. The first thing that I would do is contact the Center of Disease Control (CDC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). I would contact these agencies because my local health department is very limited on its personnel and financial resources, however, I would still involve them. The CDC and the EPA have greater resources to provide and may be able to assist in providing recommendations. The increased mosquito population in the community is a serious problem as proven by the deaths related to West Nile Virus. In an effort to control and combat the mosquito population the number one recommendation I would give the community would be to limit the amount of free standing water around living areas, treat swimming pools and make sure they are continuously circulating, keep rain gutters on homes unclogged, and keep all doors closed. Since funds are limited, I would establish a community outreach program to educate members of the community on the proper use of insect repellents. I would set up a donation center so that members of the community with more money and income can donate repellents available at no cost to lower income communities to increase compliance. According to the literature, the West Nile Virus is a mosquito-borne disease. People get infected with the virus when they are bitten by an infected mosquito. The mosquitoes become infected with the virus when they feed on infected birds. The infected mosquitoes can spread the virus to humans and animals that they bite. I would educate the community so they would know that the virus is not spread through the air or by contact. In an effort to prevent the spread of the West Nile virus, I would recommend to the community to use mosquito control measures to reduce the risk of being bit by mosquitoes. In addition, I would inform the community to be on the lookout for dead birds and tree squirrels and report them to local public health departments. This can indicate the presence of the virus and the health departments will want to test the dead animal for the virus. This allows the public health department to use the information for surveillance purposes. If the mosquito problem didn’t get better, I would advise that the members of the community stay indoors and try to avoid going outside if need be. Mosquitoes have, and always will be, around community areas. It is very important that the communities take measures to keep their kids, and themselves, from getting bit. We can educate, but it always comes down to people doing the smart thing and avoiding things that will cause them to get bitten.

References
National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse (2012). Retrieved on April 6, 2013 from http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/bacteria/
Definition of Vector (2012). Retrieved on April 7, 2013 from http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=5968