Real-Life Communication
As a food inspector, you deal with clients at every point of the
food production continuum. Whether you're discussing weeding methods with
a farmer or food storage temperatures with a grocer, it's your job to advise
clients on food safety regulations.
Ivor Wright is a regional coordinator
with a food inspection agency. "They have to explain the regulations clearly,
so that people understand what it is that they're required to do," he says.
Today,
you've been advised to pay a visit to Roy's Rutabagas, one of the city's most
esteemed and reliable producers of fine rutabagas. Lately, several grocers
have reported that their rutabagas are showing surface injuries to their lower
halves. You've seen this before and know that it can mean only one thing:
worms.
Worm injury is caused by the cabbage root maggot, the larva
of a fly slightly smaller than a housefly. When the adult lays its eggs in
the soil next to the rutabaga, the egg hatches and the larva feeds off the
root under the soil.
You arrive at the farm on schedule. Roy Thompson,
the proprietor, is expecting you and he greets you from the field with a smile
and a wave. Though you've never met him before, he seems like a nice enough
guy. You tell him you're here to do a routine inspection and that, if he doesn't
mind, you'll simply get to it.
While inspecting the rutabagas, you
keep in mind that rutabagas are considered defective due to worm injury if:
- The larva is present.
- The tunnels or discoloration penetrate into the root more than an inch
in the aggregate.
- There is surface injury to the lower half of the root.
After inspecting both the rutabagas and the surrounding soil in a
significant sample site, you find no evidence of maggots on the premises.
However, you've got to keep your eyes on this site in the future. For now,
you must explain the situation to Mr. Thompson in full detail and advise him
of regulations surrounding worm defects in rutabagas.
If he takes this
the wrong way, he could fly off the handle. His reputation is at stake and
he may think he's been wrongly accused. Call on your communication skills
to come up with a tactful yet informative way to discuss the grocers' complaints
and how to detect worm injury.