One of the duties of a health inspector or environmental health officer is regular inspections of food establishments.  One inspections stands out clearly in my mind as the owner of the restaurant reacted quite strongly to my report.  Why was this?  During the inspection, which was conducted mid-morning in a busy seafood restaurant, I noticed a food handler smoking while stirring the clam chowder.  Now most staff are aware of an inspection taking place, and tend to be on their best behaviour, but this worker was paying no attention.  This was noted in the report and the owner stormed off to yell at his worker.  Why was this a concern?  Besides cigarette ashes falling into the food, there is mainly the concern of the hand-to-mouth transmission of bacteria to the food.  Obviously, this food handler didn’t care about hygiene and the risk that was being created for the customers. Food handlers must never smoke when preparing or serving food. On my next inspection, he was no longer working at the restaurant.