Dining Out Safely in Rhode Island

You’ve made reservations at a restaurant to celebrate a special occasion.  You can’t wait to eat there.  You’ve read the restaurant reviews and talked with friends who have dined there.  Or, maybe you’re craving spring rolls from your regular Chinese takeout restaurant.  Perhaps, you’re headed to the local place in town that your family frequents once a week. 

You enjoy dining out with family and friends, but do you know enough about the food safety practices of the restaurants at which you are eating?  In an effort to help keep you and your family safe while dining out, the Office of Food Protection at the Rhode Island Department of Health posts all of their Official Office of Food Protection Reports completed since January 2007 on HEALTH’s website.  These reports detail what inspectors find when they visit a restaurant.  You can also sign up for email alerts if you want to be notified when your favorite restaurant is inspected.

We encourage Rhode Islanders to use the comments section of this blog to engage with us and with each other. Please note that we review all comments before they are posted, so your comment may not appear right away on this site. While we cannot respond to every comment or question directly, they help us to understand your questions and concerns and plan for future posts.

Will I Need To Get Vaccinated Against H1N1 Flu Next Year?

Yes, you will need to get vaccinated against the H1N1 flu strain to protect yourself during the 2010-2011 flu season.  The good news is that the H1N1 flu strain will be included in the 2010-2011 seasonal flu vaccine, and you will not need to get a separate vaccination against H1N1.  The seasonal flu vaccine protects against the three strains of flu most likely to make people sick each year.  A separate vaccine for the H1N1 flu strain was only developed in 2009 because this strain emerged after seasonal flu vaccine production had begun. 

In Rhode Island, healthcare providers can expect to receive the seasonal flu vaccine in September or October.  Vaccination is the best way to protect yourself from the flu.  The CDC recommends that everyone 6 months of age and older get the seasonal flu vaccine, so be sure to get vaccinated in the fall.

We encourage Rhode Islanders to use the comments section of this blog to engage with us and with each other. Please note that we review all comments before they are posted, so your comment may not appear right away on this site. While we cannot respond to every comment or question directly, they help us to understand your questions and concerns and plan for future posts.