Formal Concerns About Casual Dining

 

The “casual” in “casual dining” should not refer to the restaurant’s attitude towards the cleanliness of the experience. In this episode of MarketScale’s Healthcare podcast, John Shanahan, president and CEO of Ionogen, sat down with host Sean Heath to discuss the recent chemical events in a popular fast-casual restaurant, how those chemicals got there in the first place, and how to protect ourselves when dining out.

The process of protecting ourselves when dining begins the moment we step through the door, Shanahan said.

“If you walk into a restaurant and it doesn’t smell clean? It isn’t clean, and you shouldn’t eat there,” he said.

The generally accepted authority on whether or not a dining environment is clean is the local health department, explained Shanahan.

“The standards are actually the same, uniformly, across all of them, because, in every state, the health department is the guardian that watches over these restaurants to make sure that the standards for sanitation are uniformly observed,” Shanahan said.

He also clarified that a shiny table is not necessarily a safely clean table.

“The leading national blue glass cleaner has 11 chemicals in it that you can’t ingest,” he said.

This is not a problem that is limited to “quick-serve” restaurants. “White linen” dining experiences can come with their own dangers, as well, explained Shanahan.

“The linen is typically replaced at one of those, after every single guest,” he said. “Especially during flu season, someone will go out and have dinner at a 4-star restaurant. They’ll have the early stages of the flu and grab the salt and pepper shaker. If you’re the next person at the table, you’ve just been introduced to that virus, because it’s been left on the salt and pepper shaker.”

For the latest news, videos, and podcasts in the Healthcare Industry, be sure to subscribe to our industry publication.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @MarketScale
Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale
LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

Advancing Global Competency Frameworks for the Nursing Profession - Live from ICN
Advancing Global Competency Frameworks for the Nursing Profession – Live from ICN
June 13, 2025

In this special episode recorded at the 2025 International Council of Nurses Congress in Helsinki, host Lea Sims sits down with Professor Sylvia Fung, President of the Hong Kong Academy of Nursing & Midwifery, and Professor Ying Zhou of Guangzhou Huashang College. Together, they discuss how the nursing profession is evolving in Asia and the…

Read More
grain storage
Revolutionizing Grain Storage: A Peek into MKC and Producer Ag’s Innovative Facilities
June 12, 2025

Embrace the future of grain storage as Jon Brown, Director of Facilities for MKC Properties and Producer Ag, guides you through their state-of-the-art, automation-driven facilities. Discover how they truly set industry standards for efficiency in loading, unloading, and handling grain. What You’ll Learn — The Evolution of MKC and Producer Ag’s Grain Facilities —…

Read More
Advancing Rehabilitative Care Through Global Practice Standards and Credentialing | Andrea Christie and Karlene Miller | EP#2 - Live from ICN
Advancing Rehabilitative Care Through Global Practice Standards and Credentialing – Live from ICN
June 12, 2025

Broadcasting from the 2025 International Council of Nurses Congress in Helsinki, host Lea Sims welcomes two inspiring Jamaican nurses—Andrea Christie, MSc, BSN, ENLAC, RM, RN, JP, and Karlene Miller, RN—to discuss the vital but often overlooked specialty of rehabilitative nursing. With decades of combined experience in rehabilitation and midwifery, both guests offer an impassioned…

Read More
career resilience
Asking Questions Works: Career Resilience, Mentorship, and Real Growth in Real Estate and Beyond
June 11, 2025

In this inspiring episode of PQ: Conversations That Build Equity, host Jason Winningham sits down with Rosanna Hudson—affectionately known as “RoRo”—to explore how career resilience fuels the development of professional equity through trust, adaptability, and the courage to ask better questions. Rosanna is a seasoned real estate broker licensed in both Texas and California,…

Read More