The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) is known for its outrageous foods, and Toronto Public Health says that dozens of inspectors are working hard to make everything is up to code.
“Our opening day, we basically have around 20-odd inspectors that are down here,” said Toronto Public Health’s Environmental Health Officer Anthony Nikolopoulos. “And we try to visit and inspect everyone on the first day.”
About 200 inspections occurred last Friday and every food kiosk will get a second inspection this upcoming Friday.
Inspectors will examine restaurants in the CNE Food Building as well as drink stands, carts, kiosks and food trucks.
Dr. Howard Shapiro from Toronto Public Health says the inspectors look at everything from cross-contamination to temperature in order to prevent bacterial growth.
“So you don’t have things like raw chicken dripping into the salad or something like that,” says Dr. Shapiro. “They’re also looking to make sure there’s things like pest control, so like cockroaches or rodents.”
The results of the food inspections are expected to be posted swiftly.
“All the inspections that will be done today will be available on the DineSafe website tonight at midnight.”
Executive Chef Matthew Bickerton says that while he loves the atmosphere at the CNE, weather proved to be a really safety challenge on Sunday. Heavy rains posed a real danger to their deep fryers.
“The wind and the rain would come in and pour into the hot oil which is at 350 degrees,” he explained. “We had to stop everything”.
At other times though, he says their deep fried food, which include deep fried Mars bars, Oreos and KitKats, are a great favourite with fair goers.
