Dear Mr. President,

On behalf of my colleagues at Sani Professional, kudos to you for not only lending a hand to young Sasha in her first real job, but for modeling good food safety in the effort!  

Did you know sir, that one-in-three American adults got their first job experience in a restaurant? The foodservice industry employs 14.4 million people today and is expected to grow almost +20% over the next ten years!  That's right: nearly ten percent of ALL Americans are working in the food industry today.  Which is more, 140 million of us eat a meal away-from-home, most often in a restaurant, every single day.  That's about 40% of the entire U.S. population - every day!

But Mr. President, there's something else you should know. Although it was fantastic to see that you knew to "glove up" for safety, I'm sad to share that collectively, we still have some work to do in making the dining experience a safer and more enjoyable one for our fellow citizens.  I hope that Sasha has trained to be ServSafe®, because all too often, our foodservice workers are themselves the source of foodborne illness in America. 

The CDC estimates that 1-in-6 of us will contract some form of food poisoning this year. This statistic suggests that thousands of us fall prey to cross-contamination or improper food handling on the daily.  Reducing foodborne illness by just -10% would keep 5 million of us from getting sick each year - and what that'd save us in healthcare costs is staggering. 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     (photo courtesy of http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com)
We've made good strides of late. Thank you by the way for the Food Safety Modernization Act, which is already making a difference in how upstream food processors insure a safer food supply for the retail outlets where we all buy food to feed our families. 

Now, if you'd only consider one more piece of legislation before you leave the White House, I promise even Sasha would be grateful:  it's called the "rag & bucket" and we can't believe it's still what most people use to clean and sanitize. A forever ban and/or criminal charges associated with continued use would be so very appreciated by guests, employees and yes, the good folks at Sani Professional.  Think about it?  We're here to help. Call us anytime and happy cooking!

Want to find out more about food safety? Check out our free resources & use them at your place of work!