Posted: May 25th, 2012 - 12:07pm
Source: CBC News

A food safety trainer in New Brunswick says a new course that will certify employees who deal directly with food is extremely important.
The New Brunswick government will require any restaurant employees who deal with food to be certified as of July 1.
This new course has caused at least one restaurant owner to say the added cost of the new rules could cost jobs in the restaurant sector.
But Jason McBride, a former restaurant owner and now a certified food trainer, said paying for courses and certification is all a part of doing business.
"The person who cuts your hair in the province of New Brunswick has to be a certified professional. But the person who prepares your meal at restaurant, whether it's a franchise or a private restaurant, doesn't have to have any form of certification whatsoever,” he said.
“That individual, through poor food handling, can also make you very ill or your family very ill.”
The new certification regulations were announced in the wake of an E. coli outbreak in Miramichi last month. But officials with the Department of Health say they have been in the works for months.
The E. coli outbreak was linked to a Jungle Jim’s franchise. At least 13 people were infected by the bacteria.