Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Petition Update: Good News, Bad News

I presented my petition for a food allergen poster today to the Raleigh City Council. There is good news and bad news to report. The bad news first - although the Council seemed intrigued by my petition and ideas, they ended up taking no action and referred me instead to Wake County. I was a little disappointed and felt a little bit like I wasted my time but oh well, life goes on. I'm too much of a positive person to let small roadblocks deter me.

So what's the good news you ask? I ended up speaking with someone at Wake County's Environmental Services Department (they are responsible for food safety and sanitation inspections for every restaurant in the county) about the poster idea. I talked with someone who has children with food allergies as luck would have it. They had a very good understanding of the topic of food allergies and thought the idea about raising awareness and educating restaurant staff was a great idea. I hope to work with Wake County on this topic in the future and I'll definitely keep you updated on the progress. I have not given up just yet.

So the good news in summary is that there is potential to education all the restaurants in the entire county, not just the city of Raleigh. Thank you to the nearly 400 people who have signed the petition over the past 6 months. If you have not signed it, please do so!

STAY TUNED!

5 comments:

Fred said...

Zach - I know this isn't the outcome that you wanted, but your time and efforts on this are greatly appreciated.

Is there a clear petition goal of signatures that would get this over the top? Wikipedia shows 866,000 people in Wake Co., WakeGov.com shows 483k voters, 55k of which participated in the October 6 elections, and Charles Meeker won the Mayoral contest with 17K votes.

I look forward to catching up with you further about this - we should give it a go.

Anonymous said...

Zach, this is great news if every restaurant in the county would be required to educate their staff and display this information. Maybe try Durham? They're more progressive than Raleigh and are known for their local restaurant scene. If Durham does it, Raleigh will likely follow.

Lauren said...

Thank you for all your hard work!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your efforts on this issue. I was glad I signed the petition last night when I encountered yet another uninformed server at a very popular downtown Raleigh restaurant. Keep up the great work!

Anonymous said...

Official Meeting Minutes from 10-20-09 - FOOD ALLERGIES – POSTER – COMMENTS RECEIVED – DIRECTION GIVEN

Zachary Becker, Gluten Free Raleigh Blog, told about his being diagnosed with certain allergies and talked about the number of people who have food allergies and the types of allergies. He talked about developing a poster that describes the basic allergies and talked about the need to have it required in all restaurants, etc. Have it displayed so that all food workers could know what the allergies are, provide information, treatments, etc. He presented the posture he had designed and asked the City Council to consider requiring it to be posted in all locations where food is served.

Brief discussion took place after which Mr. Becker was advised to contact the Wake County Commissioners and the Wake County Health Department as what he is proposing comes under their jurisdiction.

Click here for full minutes - http://www.raleighnc.gov/

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