study cites sickening' management attitude towards restaurants

New York, Apr 24 (UNI) Restaurant food may be affected because of ''unhealthy'' attitudes being adopted by various managements, a study prepared by the Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York (ROC-NY) reveals.

City restaurant workers, a considerable number of whom are South Asians, who are not given leave when they fall sick are more likely to spit, cough or sneeze on customers' food, said the study prepared by an advocacy group, the Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York (ROC-NY).

Workers who don't receive any health and safety training are more likely to admit having served leftover, spoiled or dirty food than those who receive such training, the ROC-NY study said.

The study's authors had spoken to 880 restaurant workers in New York. According to them, many restaurants including several posh ones sell food not totally suitable for consumption.

According to Indian-American Saru Jayaraman, who is ROC-NY's executive director, employees who suffer from flu and other sicknesses, but are asked to work as they get little or no leave, raise health issues. She said restaurant owners and managers should give workers paid sick leave as currently that facility does not exist much in the industry.

The managements of those restaurants paying below the minimum wages to workers are also flouting the health code, the study's authors told a recent news conference.

The study did not name the 500 restaurants that employ the 880 workers who had been surveyed. It was stated that many of these were illegal aliens. In the study, the authors used data from a survey of 530 restaurant workers done in 2003 and another survey done last year of 350 workers.

UNI XC SB KN1205