Derry restaurant hepatitis scare inspires bill
By MARK HAYWARD
Union Leader Staff
A state representative thinks that last year's hepatitis scare at a Derry restaurant will give the Legislature incentive to pass a bill that requires a restaurant to have at least one employee versed in proper food-handling procedures.
Last year, 1,700 people who had eaten at Taco Bell in Derry opted for an inoculation after health officials warned they may be at risk for hepatitis A from an infected worker.
"That's one of the things we can avoid; that's called protection or prevention," said state Rep. Jim Pilliod, R-Belmont. "We don't want to treat a restaurant filled with people. It's not fun."
This is the second year that Pilliod, a physician, has sponsored the bill. But as much as he supports it, state Rep. Janeen Dalrymple, R-Salem, a registered nurse and owner of a bakery, opposes it.
Dalrymple said the requirements of the law will be a burden on mom-and-pop restaurants and shops. The material taught in the classes is already required by state law or regulation. And the classes won't be effective for restaurateurs who speak another language such as Greek or Chinese and cannot read and write English, she said.
"What are you going to do if they fail the test because they can't read, are you going to close the restaurant?" she said.
The bill, House Bill 173, would require at least one employee in a restaurant or food-service establishment to take and pass a course on the basic rules of food safety. The course would have to be taken once every five years.
The bill has the backing of the grocer, restaurant and lodging industries, Pilliod said. As it is now, state inspectors visit a restaurant once every year or two and spend their time teaching workers proper food-handling, he said.
If a restaurant employee were trained, the inspectors would spend their time inspecting, not teaching, Pilliod said.
"It's such a simple bill. It's such as simple thing. It costs the state nothing, and it's so common-sensical," Pilliod said.
