May 21, 2025 • 19 mins
From inspecting restaurants and responding to compost odor issues, to making sure our drinking water is safe — Environmental Health is working behind the scenes to keep our communities healthy. In this episode of Government Speak, we sit down with Director Kristian Lucas to talk about the vital, everyday work of Contra Costa County’s Environmental Health Division. Learn how they respond to emerging issues, enforce safety standards, and help build a cleaner, safer future for everyone.
Guests: Environmental Health Director Kristian Lucas and Host Kristi Jourdan
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to government Speak.
This is where we'll cut throughthe government speak to get the
information you need aboutcounty programs, services, and
events straight from the source.
Welcome to Government Speak,
Contra Costa County'sofficial podcast.
I'm your host, Christy Jordan,Contra Costa County's public
information officer, and onthis episode we have Christian
(00:20):
Lucas, who is our environmentalhealth director joining us in
studio at 10 Douglas.
Christian, welcometo the podcast.
Thanks for having me.
So, um, for those who mightnot be familiar, what is
environmental health?
What is a typical day like?
How does it impact the lives of
um residents we servein our community?
Yeah, environmental health isa very large and broad, uh,
discipline, I think.
(00:43):
What people most associate withenvironmental health is the
word environment, so they'rethinking of the natural
environment, things like noisepollution, air pollution, soil
pollution, uh, but we actuallydelve into a lot in our built
environment too.
These, these would bethings like, uh, regulating
restaurants and regulatingpools, body art facilities,
people who make, uh, and needto dispose of medical waste.
(01:06):
There's just a wide varietyof things that environmental
health encompasses.
Um, and it's, it's very broadand much broader than people
would normally think.
So that impacts a lot of,you know, someone's life.
You could go to a restaurantand then afterwards go get a
tattoo and you know,environmental health has
touched those.
(01:27):
Um, so let's focus on one areaof environmental health that
you had mentioned which wasrestaurant inspections and
health grades.
Uh, are there Are there umcommon misconceptions about
that work or or what issomething that you would want
people to know about uhrestaurant inspections?
Yeah, our restaurantinspections cover a wide
variety of topics.
(01:50):
Uh, we're essentiallyregulating things that um are
important to keep peoplehealthy when they're consuming
the food that they're going outto, uh, to eat, whether it's a
prepackaged item at a localconvenience store or some
prepared food that they'regetting from a restaurant.
I think one of the commonmisconceptions is when people
see our letter grade on thewindow of the store, that that
(02:12):
is essentially what's um.
When they're walking intothere, what they should expect
when they're purchasing a mealor or a food item to consume.
In reality, these are snapshotsin time from the last time when
our staff were out there.
Now, being that a lot of thethings that we regulate are
related to adult learnedbehaviors and generally adult
(02:36):
learned behaviors that are notthe kind that we would like
people to have learned.
They take a while to correctand even when we're not there,
um, they're they'regenerally still happening.
So I think that ourletter grades are a good
representation of the lasttime that we were there and
generally we'll carry throughbecause people are generally on
their best behavior when we arethere and we still find things.
(02:57):
So I think there are uh anoverall a good indication of um
how you how you can expect toreceive food and whether or not
that food is healthyfor you to consume.
Are you, uh, announcing thoseinspections or are those kind
of surprise visits or isthere a combination of both?
All of our inspections areunannounced at these food
(03:18):
establishments, uh, and we dothat for a variety of reasons,
but number one, we wanna, wewanna actually look at what is
going on in the restaurantat any given time.
So that way that letter gradethat we're posting on the
window is an accuraterepresentation.
of what you can expect when you
go to frequent thatthat establishment.
Let's talk through, um, youknow, environmental health has
elements of public health to it.
(03:41):
You're focusing on the safetyand the well-being of people in
our community as it relates tothe consumption of a product or
or the exposure to a product.
Um, can you walk us through howyou respond to a complaint or
um a concern?
how do those come in or how do
people report whenthey have concerns?
Sure. Our office receivesconcerns every day of the week,
(04:02):
um, numerous times a day, and
they come in in avariety of ways.
They can come in by somebodywalking into our lobby and
telling us verbally, theycan come in over the phone.
Through our main office linethey can come in via email or
we actually have a webportal on our website.
Uh, sometimes they come inthrough PIO just like yourself
or through our our internal PIOwithin Contra Costa Health, uh,
(04:24):
but either way those getdirected to us and I think one
of the things that's importantfor people to to understand
when they do make a complaint
to environmental health is that.
Our staff treats uh everycomplaint is confidential, so
any information that you'regiving us, whether it's your
personal name, phone number,address, we don't share that
with the regulated communitythat when we're going out to
(04:46):
investigate a complaint we keepthat confidential, uh, and we
generally want that informationso that we can reach out to the
individual that is complaining,uh, to ensure that we have all
the necessary information weneed when we go out to make
that investigation.
We try to be objective whenwe're going out to do an
investigation, um, but we wantall of the information, uh,
necessary in order for us toconduct a full and complete
(05:09):
investigation beforewe end up going out.
So that's why we generally askfor that type of information,
but we keep all of thatstuff confidential.
I think that's somethingthat people don't often times
realize when they're making uhuh a concern to our office, um,
or through the PIO that uhwhen we go to investigate.
We're keeping all that stuffclose and we're not sharing
(05:30):
that with the folks that mightbe being complained about.
So that way you don't haveto worry about any potential
retaliation or folks can feel
safe making that that complaint.
Um, so here at the Office ofCommunications and Media, we're
often the first
point of contact that peoplein the community have because
they're trying to navigate offthe website or you know, they
(05:51):
find their phone number in someway and then they're calling to
figure out how do I get toa certain program area or um
Event or try to track downinformation and um one of the
questions that I get um prettyfrequently is about the cottage
food licensing program.
Can you talk a little bitabout that and kind of what the
process might be for anyone
(06:11):
who's interestedin pursuing that?
Sure. Cottage Foods started anumber of years ago, um, and
the, the way that itwas created by the state
legislature was limitingsomebody in their home kitchen
with relatively littlecapital investment.
To start making baked goods,and those can be sold uh in in
a variety of locations whetherat a certified farmers' market
(06:31):
in our local community at atemporary food events, uh, and
sometimes even your localretail market or grocery store.
Um, one of the, the newerhome kitchen options that's
available, uh, was justrecently passed by our board of
supervisors last year was thecreation of of a pilot program
for what's called a
microenterprise homekitchen operation.
I know it's a mouthful.
(06:54):
Uh, we've abbreviated that aswe like to do in this field as
a miko, and essentially whatthat is is similar to a cottage
food operation, and then itallows, uh, a homeowner or a
small business entrepreneurto use their home kitchen, but
instead of just making bakedgoods, uh, when you apply and
are permanent as a miko, you
can actually makereally any foods.
(07:15):
There are some caveats, those
foods have to beserved that day.
They can't be stored on siteand then served on another day
like you could in a restaurant.
Um, milk products, dairyproducts, um, whether frozen or
unfrozen, those are a no no.
Uh, and there are somelimitations on, you know, the,
uh, amount of food that you canproduce in a day and the amount
(07:37):
of, um, uh, gross revenue thatyou can make in a given year.
But other than that, the
restrictions arerelatively light.
We do go in and do inspectionsof these facilities just like
we do any restaurant, um,although we have made, you
know, accommodations becausethese are home kitchens and not
commercial kitchens.
(07:59):
Um, so they are regulated byus, they are inspected by us,
so you can be um relativelyassured that the food that
you're eating is going tobe safe for you to consume.
Um, however, they're seenas more of a stepping stone,
whether it's a cottage food ora miko, or I'll refer to them
as a home kitchen, any homekitchen, uh, as sort of a
stepping stone to either, um,sort of the next tier, if you
(08:21):
think of this as sort ofa, a tiered structure.
These are ourlowest cost permits.
And they're really creating anice foundation and a stepping
stone into something like amobile food facility or a food
truck, or even a brick andmortar, uh, food establishment
as a business, uh, tends togrow, and there's more capital
behind that, and they canmove into a bigger space.
(08:42):
Um, so it's a reallyinteresting and really exciting
program for us.
Uh, because it's reallyallowing folks to do more and
more stuff inside their home,which if I hadn't mentioned
before, previous to cottagefood introduction, uh, was
actually prohibited.
You could only make orsell food from a commercial
establishment to the public.
(09:04):
Now you can actually do thatin your home and start off, uh,
you know, relatively easily andwith little capital investment.
So it's really about scalingand making sure that um we're
offering an array of optionsfor people who might be
interested in.
Selling food and opening theirown kitchen or or you know,
opening their own business.
One of the other questions I
(09:26):
had was around umthe permit holders.
So we talked about some ofthe, you know, the unannounced
inspections and what you're
looking for um duringthose inspections.
What are some of the commonreasons why permit holders get
shut down and how do you workwith those folks to make sure
that whatever is contributingto their inability to provide a
service safely, that they learnfrom it and can fix the issue.
(09:48):
Sure. I would say probablytwo of the most common reasons
we're closing a business down,uh, any type of food business
for, for that matter, would be,um, either a, a lack of water.
So as you can imagine, in orderto properly wash your hands,
wash produce, wash your dishes,you need potable running water
in order to do so.
(10:11):
Uh, and the other thing wouldbe rodents, um, whether it's
mice, rats, cockroaches,uh, just some sort of vermin
infestation into the facility.
I'm sure we, we can allappreciate that we don't want
cockroaches or rats runningacross a prep table where our
meal is going to be preparedand then served to us and so
these are some of the thingsthat we normally find when uh
(10:32):
when we're shutting uh arestaurant down and what we do
is, um, we, we, we try to workwith the operator as much as we
can if it's a situation wherethere is no water that's
present in a facility, um,we usually let them know that
right away.
We'll close the operation downfrom serving any new food while
we're there, and if they canget a plumber on site, we're
(10:53):
more than happy to uh try toaccommodate them provided that
it doesn't take us too longand take us away from doing the
other things that we need todo in our in any any one of our
given days.
Um, for the, the vermininfestation, uh, we usually
request that they get alicensed pest control company
to go and um exterminatethe facility.
And then provide us with proofthat that's been done and then
(11:16):
we'll usually in any case doa follow up to make sure that
whatever it is that we areciting that's causing a
restaurant to be closed downhas been fixed before we allow
that that operation to toresume um and again we're
looking at making sure that uhthat folks that are frequenting
that particular establishment,uh, can, can do so safely and
(11:36):
can be relatively confidentthat what it is that they're
going to be getting thatproduct that they're gonna be
purchasing is safe to consume.
So one of the other questionswe field through our office
occasionally is, um, the parentwho asks if uh permitting is
needed for um a drivewayuh lemonade stand.
Can you talk about that and,and let folks know what the
(11:59):
process would be if they neededto get a permit for that?
Sure, I think, um, what we doin environmental health and
what many regulatory agencieshave to juggle is the spirit of
the law versus theletter of the law.
The letter of the law says youhave to have a permit anytime
you're selling or givingaway food to the public.
Now one of the things that wedo in environmental health and
(12:20):
what's done generally acrossthe state of California is we
generally look at risk, right?
What is the riskiness of acertain food that's being sold
and prepared or givenaway to the public?
And when we're looking atsomething like a lemonade
stand, you're looking at, uh,an acidic beverage doesn't take
a lot of food preparation.
Um, we generally classifythat as a very low risk and so
that's not necessarilysomething that we are going out
(12:43):
and wanting to end up on ourlocal news busting a, uh,
lemonade stand in somebody'sdriveway, um, because again
the, the risk of the public isrelatively low, uh, you could
say the same thing about, uh,Girl Scout cookies, which is a
common question that we get inour office whenever that time
is is coming around, and Ithink we might be around that
time right now.
(13:05):
Um, and, and reallywhat it's about is risk.
Uh, whenever we're looking ata prepackaged food or uh an
acidic beverage that doesn'thave a ton of bacterial growth
or the potential for bacterialgrowth, that's something that
we, we tend to notfocus on as heavily.
OK, thank you forclarifying that,
um. Generally, how canresidents stay informed?
(13:26):
What are some goodcommunication tools or
information avenues that arecoming out of environmental
health that peoplecould could focus on?
Sure, I think probably the bestway is, uh, we have recently
redesigned our website and
there's a wealth of information.
Uh, we've tried to make iteasier for people to navigate.
Um, another way is through anyof the cost to health social
(13:48):
media channels.
Um, or even your localnewscast, I found myself on a
local newscast on occasionwhenever there's something
going on trying to disseminateinformation to the public in a
way, um, that iseasy to understand.
Um, I, I think for a lot ofpeople there's, there's so much
information coming at them,um, that it's tough to sort of
(14:09):
decipher, you know, what is
accurate and whatis not accurate.
I think all the informationthat we try to put out.
At the health department orCount Cross the Health, uh, is,
um, something that folks canlook at as a source of truth.
So whether you're getting thatfrom our website, one of our
social media channels, or evencalling our office or coming
into our office, we'remore than happy to get that
(14:30):
information toanyone that needs it.
Um, are there any tools orresources that you wish people
knew more about as it relates
to the work withenvironmental health?
Yeah, like I said, one of thecommon misconceptions is that
folks see the wordenvironmental and they
automatically think thateverything that we're doing is
out in the environment.
(14:50):
And while that's partiallytrue, there's a lot of other
things that we do, and I thinka lot of the work that our
staff does.
Goes unseen quite often, um,and if we're doing our job
correctly then you're notseeing us in the news or you're
not seeing what's actuallygoing on behind the scenes, but
our staff are out thereperforming upwards of 15,000
inspections per year, makingsure that everything from your
local restaurant.
(15:13):
Uh, to your local pool is safe,so you're not gonna not gonna
contract a waterborneor foodborne illness.
Uh, things like making surethat the waste that you throw
in your garbage can is gettingsafely deposited to where it
needs to be, um, all the wayto making sure that, you know,
you're not going to contractsome form of hepatitis when
you're getting a tattoo.
(15:34):
There's just a wide varietyof things that we cover that I
think oftentimes go unnoticed.
Uh, but some of the things thatfolks can do themselves, uh, to
make things.
Um, as safe as possible,whether they're at home or or
even out and about or just someof the same things that we've
been talk that we've beentold ever since we were young,
washing your hands, uh, makingsure that you are closing the
(15:55):
lid on your trash can when youput it out on the curb every,
every day.
These are gonna prevent thing,these are gonna be a way that
that folks can um make ahuge effort in their local
communities and in their locallives keeping themselves safe
and keeping those around them
and the environmentsafe as well.
So, let's talk aboutyou and your background.
How do you, I mean, did youwake up one day and say, I want
(16:18):
to be an environmentalhealth director?
What what was the path for youum to get to this destination?
It was a bit of a roundaboutpath, I would say, um.
Started in college,uh, science major.
I wanted to be a doctor.
Um, fortunately for me now Iget to work with uh a lot of
physicians in in the work thatI do, but, uh, public health
(16:39):
was never something that wasreally on my radar until I
ended up taking a class incollege that's, uh, you know,
really talked about.
You know how not just your ownphysician or your own doctor
can make an impact in youroverall life, but how many
people that are doingmany different things from
environmental health tooccupational health and safety,
(17:01):
uh, that, that are, areimpacting your everyday life in
ways that you don't even know,and that was something that
just opened my eyes to to thiswhole world and when I got out,
I started looking for For jobsin the field and I ended up
finding one,
and, uh, started in San JoaquinCounty and then migrated over
here to Contra Costa Countyand I've been here ever since
(17:23):
worked my way up from uh uh atrainee in this field all the
way up to the position theposition that I'm in now and I
feel very fortunate to havedone that and, uh, it's, it's a
fantastic field, um, and, andit allows folks that really
want to help people.
Um, to be able to do that ineffect, not just a single life,
even though we do that everysingle day, but multiple lives
(17:44):
and the health and safety of,
of everyone in aparticular community.
It's preventative, it's
educational, I meanit's public health.
It's um a really great uhjourney to be on if you if
you're in the science field.
So, um, We talked aboutlemonade stands and uh Girl
Scout cookies and then in thenext breath we talked about
(18:05):
tattoo shops and spas.
Um, if there's one takeawayfrom today's discussion, what
would you want peopleto remember the most?
I think it would probably bethat there are a lot of folks,
uh, whether you want to callthem unsung heroes or not, I
know heroes is not a word thatwe throw around lightly, but,
uh, that there are a lot offolks out there that, um,
(18:27):
whether you're in this countyor in one of our neighboring
jurisdictions, they're outthere really, uh, regulating
certain things and enforcingcertain laws to make sure that.
Our everyday lives, uh, areable to to continue in the ways
in which we've all grownaccustomed to and a lot of that
work goes unnoticed, um, andthat's OK, uh, but I do think
(18:48):
it's, it's important for, forfolks to to just recognize that
when they're going to eatat their local restaurant or
whether they're going to theirlocal retail market, maybe even
the corner store, that tattooshop that we talked about, or
even installing a septicsystem into the ground.
That there are people that aremaking sure that all of that is
being done, uh, appropriatelyand properly so that we can
(19:08):
protect um those naturalresources that we have and also
our own bodies when we're goingand and participating in any of
these, uh, endeavors thatthat we that we wish to do.
Well, thank you so much to youand your team for the work that
you do um every day.
Uh, that's it for today's show.
I'm your host, Christy Jordan,contrast County's public
information officer.
(19:31):
Thanks for joining us onthe Government Speak podcast
brought to you by the Officeof Communications and Media.
But don't just take our wordfor it, stay curious, stay
connected, and stay informed.
Until next time, keep your mindopen and your facts straight.
Welcome to government Speak.
This is where we'll cut throughthe government speak to get the
information you need aboutcounty programs, services, and
events straight from the source.
Welcome to Government Speak,
Contra Costa County'sofficial podcast.
I'm your host, Christy Jordan,Contra Costa County's public
information officer, and onthis episode we have Christian
(00:20):
Lucas, who is our environmentalhealth director joining us in
studio at 10 Douglas.
Christian, welcometo the podcast.
Thanks for having me.
So, um, for those who mightnot be familiar, what is
environmental health?
What is a typical day like?
How does it impact the lives of
um residents we servein our community?
Yeah, environmental health isa very large and broad, uh,
discipline, I think.
(00:43):
What people most associate withenvironmental health is the
word environment, so they'rethinking of the natural
environment, things like noisepollution, air pollution, soil
pollution, uh, but we actuallydelve into a lot in our built
environment too.
These, these would bethings like, uh, regulating
restaurants and regulatingpools, body art facilities,
people who make, uh, and needto dispose of medical waste.
(01:06):
There's just a wide varietyof things that environmental
health encompasses.
Um, and it's, it's very broadand much broader than people
would normally think.
So that impacts a lot of,you know, someone's life.
You could go to a restaurantand then afterwards go get a
tattoo and you know,environmental health has
touched those.
(01:27):
Um, so let's focus on one areaof environmental health that
you had mentioned which wasrestaurant inspections and
health grades.
Uh, are there Are there umcommon misconceptions about
that work or or what issomething that you would want
people to know about uhrestaurant inspections?
Yeah, our restaurantinspections cover a wide
variety of topics.
(01:50):
Uh, we're essentiallyregulating things that um are
important to keep peoplehealthy when they're consuming
the food that they're going outto, uh, to eat, whether it's a
prepackaged item at a localconvenience store or some
prepared food that they'regetting from a restaurant.
I think one of the commonmisconceptions is when people
see our letter grade on thewindow of the store, that that
(02:12):
is essentially what's um.
When they're walking intothere, what they should expect
when they're purchasing a mealor or a food item to consume.
In reality, these are snapshotsin time from the last time when
our staff were out there.
Now, being that a lot of thethings that we regulate are
related to adult learnedbehaviors and generally adult
(02:36):
learned behaviors that are notthe kind that we would like
people to have learned.
They take a while to correctand even when we're not there,
um, they're they'regenerally still happening.
So I think that ourletter grades are a good
representation of the lasttime that we were there and
generally we'll carry throughbecause people are generally on
their best behavior when we arethere and we still find things.
(02:57):
So I think there are uh anoverall a good indication of um
how you how you can expect toreceive food and whether or not
that food is healthyfor you to consume.
Are you, uh, announcing thoseinspections or are those kind
of surprise visits or isthere a combination of both?
All of our inspections areunannounced at these food
(03:18):
establishments, uh, and we dothat for a variety of reasons,
but number one, we wanna, wewanna actually look at what is
going on in the restaurantat any given time.
So that way that letter gradethat we're posting on the
window is an accuraterepresentation.
of what you can expect when you
go to frequent thatthat establishment.
Let's talk through, um, youknow, environmental health has
elements of public health to it.
(03:41):
You're focusing on the safetyand the well-being of people in
our community as it relates tothe consumption of a product or
or the exposure to a product.
Um, can you walk us through howyou respond to a complaint or
um a concern?
how do those come in or how do
people report whenthey have concerns?
Sure. Our office receivesconcerns every day of the week,
(04:02):
um, numerous times a day, and
they come in in avariety of ways.
They can come in by somebodywalking into our lobby and
telling us verbally, theycan come in over the phone.
Through our main office linethey can come in via email or
we actually have a webportal on our website.
Uh, sometimes they come inthrough PIO just like yourself
or through our our internal PIOwithin Contra Costa Health, uh,
(04:24):
but either way those getdirected to us and I think one
of the things that's importantfor people to to understand
when they do make a complaint
to environmental health is that.
Our staff treats uh everycomplaint is confidential, so
any information that you'regiving us, whether it's your
personal name, phone number,address, we don't share that
with the regulated communitythat when we're going out to
(04:46):
investigate a complaint we keepthat confidential, uh, and we
generally want that informationso that we can reach out to the
individual that is complaining,uh, to ensure that we have all
the necessary information weneed when we go out to make
that investigation.
We try to be objective whenwe're going out to do an
investigation, um, but we wantall of the information, uh,
necessary in order for us toconduct a full and complete
(05:09):
investigation beforewe end up going out.
So that's why we generally askfor that type of information,
but we keep all of thatstuff confidential.
I think that's somethingthat people don't often times
realize when they're making uhuh a concern to our office, um,
or through the PIO that uhwhen we go to investigate.
We're keeping all that stuffclose and we're not sharing
(05:30):
that with the folks that mightbe being complained about.
So that way you don't haveto worry about any potential
retaliation or folks can feel
safe making that that complaint.
Um, so here at the Office ofCommunications and Media, we're
often the first
point of contact that peoplein the community have because
they're trying to navigate offthe website or you know, they
(05:51):
find their phone number in someway and then they're calling to
figure out how do I get toa certain program area or um
Event or try to track downinformation and um one of the
questions that I get um prettyfrequently is about the cottage
food licensing program.
Can you talk a little bitabout that and kind of what the
process might be for anyone
(06:11):
who's interestedin pursuing that?
Sure. Cottage Foods started anumber of years ago, um, and
the, the way that itwas created by the state
legislature was limitingsomebody in their home kitchen
with relatively littlecapital investment.
To start making baked goods,and those can be sold uh in in
a variety of locations whetherat a certified farmers' market
(06:31):
in our local community at atemporary food events, uh, and
sometimes even your localretail market or grocery store.
Um, one of the, the newerhome kitchen options that's
available, uh, was justrecently passed by our board of
supervisors last year was thecreation of of a pilot program
for what's called a
microenterprise homekitchen operation.
I know it's a mouthful.
(06:54):
Uh, we've abbreviated that aswe like to do in this field as
a miko, and essentially whatthat is is similar to a cottage
food operation, and then itallows, uh, a homeowner or a
small business entrepreneurto use their home kitchen, but
instead of just making bakedgoods, uh, when you apply and
are permanent as a miko, you
can actually makereally any foods.
(07:15):
There are some caveats, those
foods have to beserved that day.
They can't be stored on siteand then served on another day
like you could in a restaurant.
Um, milk products, dairyproducts, um, whether frozen or
unfrozen, those are a no no.
Uh, and there are somelimitations on, you know, the,
uh, amount of food that you canproduce in a day and the amount
(07:37):
of, um, uh, gross revenue thatyou can make in a given year.
But other than that, the
restrictions arerelatively light.
We do go in and do inspectionsof these facilities just like
we do any restaurant, um,although we have made, you
know, accommodations becausethese are home kitchens and not
commercial kitchens.
(07:59):
Um, so they are regulated byus, they are inspected by us,
so you can be um relativelyassured that the food that
you're eating is going tobe safe for you to consume.
Um, however, they're seenas more of a stepping stone,
whether it's a cottage food ora miko, or I'll refer to them
as a home kitchen, any homekitchen, uh, as sort of a
stepping stone to either, um,sort of the next tier, if you
(08:21):
think of this as sort ofa, a tiered structure.
These are ourlowest cost permits.
And they're really creating anice foundation and a stepping
stone into something like amobile food facility or a food
truck, or even a brick andmortar, uh, food establishment
as a business, uh, tends togrow, and there's more capital
behind that, and they canmove into a bigger space.
(08:42):
Um, so it's a reallyinteresting and really exciting
program for us.
Uh, because it's reallyallowing folks to do more and
more stuff inside their home,which if I hadn't mentioned
before, previous to cottagefood introduction, uh, was
actually prohibited.
You could only make orsell food from a commercial
establishment to the public.
(09:04):
Now you can actually do thatin your home and start off, uh,
you know, relatively easily andwith little capital investment.
So it's really about scalingand making sure that um we're
offering an array of optionsfor people who might be
interested in.
Selling food and opening theirown kitchen or or you know,
opening their own business.
One of the other questions I
(09:26):
had was around umthe permit holders.
So we talked about some ofthe, you know, the unannounced
inspections and what you're
looking for um duringthose inspections.
What are some of the commonreasons why permit holders get
shut down and how do you workwith those folks to make sure
that whatever is contributingto their inability to provide a
service safely, that they learnfrom it and can fix the issue.
(09:48):
Sure. I would say probablytwo of the most common reasons
we're closing a business down,uh, any type of food business
for, for that matter, would be,um, either a, a lack of water.
So as you can imagine, in orderto properly wash your hands,
wash produce, wash your dishes,you need potable running water
in order to do so.
(10:11):
Uh, and the other thing wouldbe rodents, um, whether it's
mice, rats, cockroaches,uh, just some sort of vermin
infestation into the facility.
I'm sure we, we can allappreciate that we don't want
cockroaches or rats runningacross a prep table where our
meal is going to be preparedand then served to us and so
these are some of the thingsthat we normally find when uh
(10:32):
when we're shutting uh arestaurant down and what we do
is, um, we, we, we try to workwith the operator as much as we
can if it's a situation wherethere is no water that's
present in a facility, um,we usually let them know that
right away.
We'll close the operation downfrom serving any new food while
we're there, and if they canget a plumber on site, we're
(10:53):
more than happy to uh try toaccommodate them provided that
it doesn't take us too longand take us away from doing the
other things that we need todo in our in any any one of our
given days.
Um, for the, the vermininfestation, uh, we usually
request that they get alicensed pest control company
to go and um exterminatethe facility.
And then provide us with proofthat that's been done and then
(11:16):
we'll usually in any case doa follow up to make sure that
whatever it is that we areciting that's causing a
restaurant to be closed downhas been fixed before we allow
that that operation to toresume um and again we're
looking at making sure that uhthat folks that are frequenting
that particular establishment,uh, can, can do so safely and
(11:36):
can be relatively confidentthat what it is that they're
going to be getting thatproduct that they're gonna be
purchasing is safe to consume.
So one of the other questionswe field through our office
occasionally is, um, the parentwho asks if uh permitting is
needed for um a drivewayuh lemonade stand.
Can you talk about that and,and let folks know what the
(11:59):
process would be if they neededto get a permit for that?
Sure, I think, um, what we doin environmental health and
what many regulatory agencieshave to juggle is the spirit of
the law versus theletter of the law.
The letter of the law says youhave to have a permit anytime
you're selling or givingaway food to the public.
Now one of the things that wedo in environmental health and
(12:20):
what's done generally acrossthe state of California is we
generally look at risk, right?
What is the riskiness of acertain food that's being sold
and prepared or givenaway to the public?
And when we're looking atsomething like a lemonade
stand, you're looking at, uh,an acidic beverage doesn't take
a lot of food preparation.
Um, we generally classifythat as a very low risk and so
that's not necessarilysomething that we are going out
(12:43):
and wanting to end up on ourlocal news busting a, uh,
lemonade stand in somebody'sdriveway, um, because again
the, the risk of the public isrelatively low, uh, you could
say the same thing about, uh,Girl Scout cookies, which is a
common question that we get inour office whenever that time
is is coming around, and Ithink we might be around that
time right now.
(13:05):
Um, and, and reallywhat it's about is risk.
Uh, whenever we're looking ata prepackaged food or uh an
acidic beverage that doesn'thave a ton of bacterial growth
or the potential for bacterialgrowth, that's something that
we, we tend to notfocus on as heavily.
OK, thank you forclarifying that,
um. Generally, how canresidents stay informed?
(13:26):
What are some goodcommunication tools or
information avenues that arecoming out of environmental
health that peoplecould could focus on?
Sure, I think probably the bestway is, uh, we have recently
redesigned our website and
there's a wealth of information.
Uh, we've tried to make iteasier for people to navigate.
Um, another way is through anyof the cost to health social
(13:48):
media channels.
Um, or even your localnewscast, I found myself on a
local newscast on occasionwhenever there's something
going on trying to disseminateinformation to the public in a
way, um, that iseasy to understand.
Um, I, I think for a lot ofpeople there's, there's so much
information coming at them,um, that it's tough to sort of
(14:09):
decipher, you know, what is
accurate and whatis not accurate.
I think all the informationthat we try to put out.
At the health department orCount Cross the Health, uh, is,
um, something that folks canlook at as a source of truth.
So whether you're getting thatfrom our website, one of our
social media channels, or evencalling our office or coming
into our office, we'remore than happy to get that
(14:30):
information toanyone that needs it.
Um, are there any tools orresources that you wish people
knew more about as it relates
to the work withenvironmental health?
Yeah, like I said, one of thecommon misconceptions is that
folks see the wordenvironmental and they
automatically think thateverything that we're doing is
out in the environment.
(14:50):
And while that's partiallytrue, there's a lot of other
things that we do, and I thinka lot of the work that our
staff does.
Goes unseen quite often, um,and if we're doing our job
correctly then you're notseeing us in the news or you're
not seeing what's actuallygoing on behind the scenes, but
our staff are out thereperforming upwards of 15,000
inspections per year, makingsure that everything from your
local restaurant.
(15:13):
Uh, to your local pool is safe,so you're not gonna not gonna
contract a waterborneor foodborne illness.
Uh, things like making surethat the waste that you throw
in your garbage can is gettingsafely deposited to where it
needs to be, um, all the wayto making sure that, you know,
you're not going to contractsome form of hepatitis when
you're getting a tattoo.
(15:34):
There's just a wide varietyof things that we cover that I
think oftentimes go unnoticed.
Uh, but some of the things thatfolks can do themselves, uh, to
make things.
Um, as safe as possible,whether they're at home or or
even out and about or just someof the same things that we've
been talk that we've beentold ever since we were young,
washing your hands, uh, makingsure that you are closing the
(15:55):
lid on your trash can when youput it out on the curb every,
every day.
These are gonna prevent thing,these are gonna be a way that
that folks can um make ahuge effort in their local
communities and in their locallives keeping themselves safe
and keeping those around them
and the environmentsafe as well.
So, let's talk aboutyou and your background.
How do you, I mean, did youwake up one day and say, I want
(16:18):
to be an environmentalhealth director?
What what was the path for youum to get to this destination?
It was a bit of a roundaboutpath, I would say, um.
Started in college,uh, science major.
I wanted to be a doctor.
Um, fortunately for me now Iget to work with uh a lot of
physicians in in the work thatI do, but, uh, public health
(16:39):
was never something that wasreally on my radar until I
ended up taking a class incollege that's, uh, you know,
really talked about.
You know how not just your ownphysician or your own doctor
can make an impact in youroverall life, but how many
people that are doingmany different things from
environmental health tooccupational health and safety,
(17:01):
uh, that, that are, areimpacting your everyday life in
ways that you don't even know,and that was something that
just opened my eyes to to thiswhole world and when I got out,
I started looking for For jobsin the field and I ended up
finding one,
and, uh, started in San JoaquinCounty and then migrated over
here to Contra Costa Countyand I've been here ever since
(17:23):
worked my way up from uh uh atrainee in this field all the
way up to the position theposition that I'm in now and I
feel very fortunate to havedone that and, uh, it's, it's a
fantastic field, um, and, andit allows folks that really
want to help people.
Um, to be able to do that ineffect, not just a single life,
even though we do that everysingle day, but multiple lives
(17:44):
and the health and safety of,
of everyone in aparticular community.
It's preventative, it's
educational, I meanit's public health.
It's um a really great uhjourney to be on if you if
you're in the science field.
So, um, We talked aboutlemonade stands and uh Girl
Scout cookies and then in thenext breath we talked about
(18:05):
tattoo shops and spas.
Um, if there's one takeawayfrom today's discussion, what
would you want peopleto remember the most?
I think it would probably bethat there are a lot of folks,
uh, whether you want to callthem unsung heroes or not, I
know heroes is not a word thatwe throw around lightly, but,
uh, that there are a lot offolks out there that, um,
(18:27):
whether you're in this countyor in one of our neighboring
jurisdictions, they're outthere really, uh, regulating
certain things and enforcingcertain laws to make sure that.
Our everyday lives, uh, areable to to continue in the ways
in which we've all grownaccustomed to and a lot of that
work goes unnoticed, um, andthat's OK, uh, but I do think
(18:48):
it's, it's important for, forfolks to to just recognize that
when they're going to eatat their local restaurant or
whether they're going to theirlocal retail market, maybe even
the corner store, that tattooshop that we talked about, or
even installing a septicsystem into the ground.
That there are people that aremaking sure that all of that is
being done, uh, appropriatelyand properly so that we can
(19:08):
protect um those naturalresources that we have and also
our own bodies when we're goingand and participating in any of
these, uh, endeavors thatthat we that we wish to do.
Well, thank you so much to youand your team for the work that
you do um every day.
Uh, that's it for today's show.
I'm your host, Christy Jordan,contrast County's public
information officer.
(19:31):
Thanks for joining us onthe Government Speak podcast
brought to you by the Officeof Communications and Media.
But don't just take our wordfor it, stay curious, stay
connected, and stay informed.
Until next time, keep your mindopen and your facts straight.
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