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RSSTestimony before the Chicago City Council, Committee on Budget and Government Operations
Good Morning Chairman Austin and members of the Committee on Budget and Government Operations. My name is Dr. Bechara Choucair and I serve as the Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health.
I am here today to testify in support of the proposed ordinance that will modernize and streamline our food inspection program, so we can better ensure the health safety of Chicagoans and make it easier to do business in Chicago.
- These changes will improve the efficiency of food inspections for both new and existing food establishments.
- And they will allow us to focus our efforts on food establishments that pose the highest risk to public safety.
This ordinance makes 2 broad changes:
It gives CDPH the authority to implement Risk Based Food Inspections and a Self-Certification Pilot Program.
Currently Chicago Municipal Code requires CDPH to:
- Inspect food establishments, regardless of risk, at least once every six months.
- Inspect mobile food dispenser vehicles serving ice cream, milk or other frozen desserts, once every 90 days during the season.
Implementing Risk-Based Food Inspections aligns us with the state of Illinois. And the Self-Certification Pilot will help streamline the food inspection program.
- The Self-Certification program allows “low-risk” food establishment, which I will define in a moment, to take a more active role in the health safety of their own establishments;
- And it allows the City’s resources to be allocated towards food establishments with a greater risk of causing a food-borne illness.
Both of these will help CDPH better ensure the health safety of Chicagoans.
The proposed Self-Certification Pilot Program would end on November 2, 2104. The Chicago Board of Health will adopt rules and regulations defining “low-risk” food establishments as well as any other guidelines needed to property implement and enforce this pilot program.
Already, CDPH has begun defining Low-Risk Food Establishments. They include:
- Food establishments that primarily serve pre-packed foods; and
- Food establishments that have:
o Received an inspection within the prior 12 months
o Received a “pass” on last inspection
o Have not been closed for food safety issues within the prior 36 months
o Have not been implicated as a source of a food-borne outbreak within the prior 36 months
These changes give CDPH the ability to more effectively allocate our resources and streamline the inspection processes for businesses in every neighborhood, allowing us to improve public health safety.
We have provided you with a copy of the proposed rules and regulations for the risk based inspections and the self-certification pilot program which includes the details on how the ordinance will be implemented.
We have also shared these rules and regulations with the trade associations for their review and input. The Board of Health process for adopting the rules and regulations will also provide the industry and general public an opportunity to review and provide their input.
I would like to thank you for the opportunity to discuss the ordinance with you this morning and hope you will support this ordinance. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have about either the ordinance or the proposed rules and regulations.
