You are here

Health and Nutrition

RAMW believes that restaurants play a large role in healthful choices and increased quality of life for residents of and visitors to the Washington DC Metropolitan Area. According to the National Restaurant Association’s “What’s Hot in 2013 Survey” healthy kids meals and nutrition will help lead menu trends in 2013. Several RAMW members are active participants in the NRA’s Kids LiveWell Program.

Recently, new laws have been introduced at the state and national level, including sugary drink bans and menu labeling practices, which reinforce this trend but which RAMW believes creates unnecessary burdens on restaurant operators.


Enterovirus Awareness

September 25, 2014 to October 17, 2014
The DC Department of Health has some information to help prevent the spread of the Enterovirus. Click below for more information. Click Here: /sites/default/files/Enterovirus D68 Parent and Guardian Update 2014 09-18 + NR edits.pdf

Could You Pass Inspection Today?

September 18, 2014 to October 18, 2014
Focus on cleanliness, good hygiene practices to prep your restaurant for an A+ By Kristin Dempsey Heading up a restaurant means there is an endless list of things you need to get ready for each and every day. In the hustle and bustle of the daily lunch rush or the late-night crowd, it’s easy to push one of the most important items farther and farther down the “to do” list: Get ready for the next health inspection. You don’t want to be left scrambling to make sure everything is up to code right before an expected visit – which you can’t predict anyway. What...

National Food Safety Month Marks 20 Years of Promoting Food Safety Best Practices

National Restaurant Association
August 22, 2014
WASHINGTON, Aug. 21, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As part of its strong commitment to food safety, the National Restaurant Association today announced this year's National Food Safety Month (NFSM), held annually in September, will mark its 20-year anniversary by featuring the top 20 food safety tips from the past 20 years. NFSM was created in 1994 to heighten awareness about the importance of food safety education. NFSM offers free resources for foodservice industry professionals at FoodSafetyMonth.com and will highlight tips for a number of food safety topics including cleaning and...

The Importance of Food Safety Training

June 11, 2014
By Betsy Craig, CEO and co-founder of MenuTrinfo® We've all read the headlines about restaurant patrons having an allergic reaction after being served food items contaminated with the cause of the reaction. While in a majority of cases these reactions have not been fatal they can be life threatening. According to a 2007 study by the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN), there were 63 food allergy–related fatalities between 1996 and 2006, with half involving restaurants. While it's true that much has been done to educate kitchen and wait staff on safe food-handling...

Are Restaurants Responsible for the Health of Their Diners?

MenuTrinfo
May 28, 2014
By Claire Willis, Director of Culinary Nutritionists at MenuTrinfo® Recently, the RAND Corporation (“a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decision making through research and analysis,” according to their website) has proposed implementing healthy dining standards for restaurants. This would require foodservice establishments to have a percentage of their menu items (on both adult and kids menus) meet certain nutritional criteria. Their reasoning behind this would be to help curb the obesity epidemic in the US by having healthy options at each and every...

Creating Healthy Kids Meals

March 4, 2014
Creating Healthy Kids Meals By Claire Willis (Director of Culinary Nutritionists at MenuTrinfo ® ) The National Restaurant Association has posted their predictions for the top dining trends of 2014. In the top five is “Healthier Kids Meals.” This may seem simple enough: take away the mac and cheese and fried chicken nuggets, replace it with a plate of veggies and whole grains. But regardless of how nutritious a dish is, it’s wasted if the child won’t eat it. You’ll find much more success if you don’t take away all of their old favorites, but rather add...

A Heart Healthy Focus: February is American Heart Month

February 28, 2014
She's out there - the woman who has stolen your heart and makes your life better just because she's in it. It may be your mom, your sister, your wife or your girlfriend. It could be your daughter, your aunt, or your best friend. And this woman you love has an enemy more deadly than all forms of cancer. This woman you love is in a battle against heart disease and she may not even know it. Although long thought of as primarily a threat to men, according to the American Heart Association , heart disease is now the number one killer of women, causing 1 in 3 deaths each year.
 That's...

Mandatory in Maryland: Food Allergy Awareness

February 14, 2014
By Betsy Craig (CEO and founder of MenuTrinfo® ) A senate bill was passed on January 23rd, 2014 in Maryland that mandates all commercial kitchens to have allergy awareness training . Beginning March 1st, 2015 , it will be mandatory for food establishments in Maryland to have one employee on the premises at all times who have completed a food allergen awareness training course and passes an accredited test approved by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Of those individuals who have gone through training, one employee must be available to discuss meal options with customers who...

Server Point of View on Gluten-Free and Allergen Training

January 24, 2014
This is a guest post for MenuTrinfo ® by Alison Baumgartner, a former waitress. For a long time, I was a career waitress who worked pretty much everywhere in the United States. I worked for high-end, local, and chain restaurants, and while they were all very different, I found that they had one similarity: inefficiency when it came to knowing exactly what was in the food. And by that, I mean there was too little nutritional labeling, no awareness of potentially allergenic ingredients and no information on what foods that contain gluten for all levels of the staff. In the end, it was very...

50 Local Chefs, 14,000 Students Come Together for Growing Healthy Schools Week

October 26, 2013
RAMW chefs partnered with Growing Healthy Schools Week , an annual celebration of local food, school gardens, and food education October 20-26, 2013. This year, 52 DC schools and 14,000 students participated in the week’s activities. There were 50 chef demos, a dozen farmer visits, and on October 24th at 10AM, 11,000 students city-wide took part in Capital Crunch by simultaneously biting into local apples (courtesy of Whole Foods Market). It was a fantastic week! For pictures from the week, visit the Growing Healthy Schools Week Flicker photos albums: Growing Healthy Schools Week kick-...

Pages