Tim McClure ensures his mobile food establishment, Mulberry’s Oven, is ready to serve customers by sanitizing and cleaning workstations and stockpiling a complete set of utensils before operating at special events and festivals throughout the summer.
McClure said he treats his business as if he were a customer who is purchasing his food. He serves about 400 pizzas at each event.
“We're going to treat this like we’re the customers and we’re trusting somebody that they’re going to keep their facility clean when we put something in our bodies,” said McClure to NewmarketToday while at Newmarket Farmers’ Market. “I’m very particular about where my food is coming from and how it is prepared. If we don’t have the integrity of how we handle our business from a health standpoint, we have nothing.”
McClure said he has been visited by York Region public health inspectors before. He is encouraged by random visits and wants to know what can be done differently at his establishment.
“We’ve taken advice from them not because we have done anything in violation, but because they have a suggestion,” said McClure.
Event organizers and vendors are required to complete and submit an application form to York Region public health before an event. Public health inspectors will then review the application form, consult with the organizer and vendor and then determine the appropriate public health action.
"Public health inspectors will follow policy to manage and to assess an event in order to determine appropriate public health action, which can include education or inspection," said Sabrina Di Giacomo, manager of health protection at York Region. "One thing to recognize is that there may be instances where it's either a novel situation or a grey area where inspectors will be using their discretion based on public health foundation knowledge."
Inspectors will check that proper food safety practices are followed, including the type of food served, complexity of food processing and preparation, and confirming if the food vendor has routinely inspected food premises.
“Food safety requirements are discussed during the consultation and food safety education is provided to both the organizer and vendor,” said Di Giacomo. “Based on the vendor assessment and consultation, an on-site inspection may be conducted. This process includes the inspection of mobile food trucks.”
According to the Provincial Health Protection and Promotion Act, regulation 493/17 requires all food service premises to have a certified food handler on site at all times. To be certified, a food handler must complete a course demonstrating the fundamental knowledge and skills required to handle food safely. Public health said inspectors enforce this policy.
McClure said he has more than the required amount of food handlers on site.
“While we are only required to have one certified food handler on-site for every event, we have a minimum of four,” said McClure. “In fact, Mulberry’s has invested in this area by paying to have eight team members with their food handler certificate, a significant investment for a small business, but one that shows our commitment to making sure that we do things right, without exception.”
Public health states it performs a risk assessment at every event. While fixed premises in York Region are assigned a risk category of either high, moderate, or low risk, one of the assessment factors for vendors is whether a previous inspection was conducted.
“If we have inspected the vendor within the calendar year, we would consider this as a low risk,” said Di Giacomo.
McClure said the wood-fired copper oven at Mulberry’s takes three hours to heat up before an event. It reaches a temperature of over 900 F and after the dough and fresh ingredients are prepared, the pizza goes into this oven for 90 to 120 seconds.
“While we clean the oven regularly, the heat inside the oven makes the stone clean and sanitary,” said McClure.
Smash N Grab Burger is a vendor at the Aurora Farmers’ Market. Geoff Hunter, owner of the business said food is prepared off-site and then loaded on the truck. He typically shows up an hour before an event to set up.
“It takes a while to heat up the grills and fryers to make everything hot,” said Hunter. “Then, we’ll be ready to go at least half an hour before an event starts just in case there are early people there.”
To keep his food truck clean, he said he takes it apart once a week and power washes it top to bottom. He said he has been visited by York Region public health inspectors before.
“At the start of the season, we had our health inspection done by York Region public health,” said Hunter. “At every event, we have to fill out our York Region health report.”
He has three sinks on his truck and portable water. He said he is not worried when health inspectors visit his business.
“Everything is brand new,” said Hunter. “I have been in the restaurant industry so I know how important health and safety is. I’m not worried when they come by because I make sure everything is clean. That is my office and my business.”
In the case of an outbreak, public health said it investigates all reports of food-borne illness in institutional and community settings, including community events.
“If a public health inspector were onsite and observed a food safety violation or health hazard, immediate action would be taken to mitigate the hazard, including closing the premises,” said Di Giacomo. “The results of any food poisoning investigation would be part of the risk assessment of future events.”
“An immediate health hazard could include a mass infestation of rodents or cockroaches,” said Di Giacomo. “Another, what we term as a health hazard, could be no water at all to help wash the hands and prepare the meals.”
With an establishment closed, inspectors would investigate other food trucks and conduct a risk assessment based on what they have seen at their establishments.
Public health said it receives reports from residents or their health-care professionals if they suspect they have become ill from food consumed at any venue. Public health would obtain a detailed history from the individual and help obtain appropriate testing to try to identify the source of the illness.
“Public health would also investigate if any other individuals became ill after attending the event or consuming the same food item to determine if there is concern for an outbreak,” said Di Giacomo. “ The overall goal is to identify and mitigate any potential health risks to protect York Region residents and future customers from getting sick.”
