Food Safety

It's been longer than I thought since I last posted, but I'm back now. I've been following with some interest the series of articles in the Chronicle Herald regarding Nova Scotia restaurants and food safety, and have several strong opinions, most of which I'll keep to myself.
I do want to weigh in by sharing my experiences. For the past 5.5 years, I've been writing resto reviews for the Coast, upwards of 200, 250 dining rooms covering everything from fish and chip trucks to posh upscale places.
Aside from reviewing, I eat out regularly ("recreational eating", I call it). In all the years that I have been eating out in Nova Scotia, I have never become ill from a restaurant. And I am quite familiar with food poisoning, having suffered through a particularly nasty case of salmonella that left me hospitalized for two weeks, brought on by a meal from an out-of-province fast food chain.
(That case was officially declared food poisoning as a result of a chicken sandwich being left in the hot line for too long).
I would never say that it can't or won't happen, but I refuse to buy into the fear mongering.