STAND. COM. REP. NO.251-02

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2002

RE: H.B. No. 2060

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 2060 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE FOOD SAFETY CONSULTATIVE AND EDUCATION PROGRAM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to promote the ability of the Department of Health to protect the public from foodborne pathogens.

Your Committee finds that informed food managers and foodhandlers are essential for the control of foodborne pathogens in foods served to the public. In its mildest forms, food poisoning can be uncomfortable—in its severest forms, food poisoning can be fatal. Hawaii already has the worst record in the nation for incidents of campylobacteriosis (a common foodborne illness) and has seen distinct increases in reported cases caused by other dangerous microorganisms in food.

Becoming an informed food manager or foodhandler, however, requires a degree of trust that cannot be attained unless food managers, foodhandlers, consultants, and educators can ask honest questions and give and receive honest answers without fear of being intentionally misled or targeted for inspection.

Accordingly, this measure retains the current law's prohibition against the use of information gained from the Department of Health's food safety consultative and education program for enforcement actions.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, the University of Hawaii, and the Hawaii Food Industry Association. The Hawaii Restaurant Association submitted testimony in opposition to this measure.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2060 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

 

____________________________

DENNIS A. ARAKAKI, Chair