As America grows up we are seeing more and more immigrants working in our QSRs -Quick Service Restaurants, aka - Fast Food Restaurants. In times of economic expansion we see job openings widen and the number of help wanted signs rise. Those jobs, which pay greater, will be the most desirable and generally the most sought after and therefore the first to be filled.

In Silicon Valley during the height of the Dot Com bubble the average wage paid at a fast food store was $10.00 per hour and believe it or not on one radio station there was advertised a $3,000 signing bonus to come to work at McDonalds. $1500 after training completion and $1500 after working there for six months. Today in areas across the country of rapid suburban areas we see similar trends in which QSRs are challenged to get reliable help. Thus these QSRs are indeed forced to higher lower levels of folks who are recent immigrants who may not have complete English skills. Additionally they may not be of first world level hygiene or bother to keep themselves clean. Such scenarios are serious and jeopardize the health safety and general welfare of the entire population. In large sit down or casual dining restaurants often the cooks, dishwashers, table-busing personnel are also recent immigrants due to the lower paying jobs. Even with the best training, it has been a continual challenge for these restaurants to keep things clean. Another issue is that in the case of illegal immigrants working behind the counters, they may or may not have been checked for diseases such as TB or Hepatitis, not to mention issues with the common cold or Flu during colder periods.

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Last year 660 people got sick and 4 people died in a hepatitis A outbreak linked to a "Chi-Chi's Restaurant" in PA. In another case this year 300 or so people in five states have got terribly sick salmonella after eating at "Sheetz Convenience Stores" also in Pennsylvania. Such problems could potentially be prevented from such technologies.

PPG and Penn State University are working on self-cleaning counters that kill and resist bacteria. Some of this technology is already being used in the Glass Industry with special manufacturing processes and coatings to keep glass clean. It is called Self-Cleaning Glass:

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Cleaning supplies are a problem often if over used as they cause issues with air quality since they are sprayed on in areas of high humidity kitchens and confined areas. Additionally over use of spray cleaners can also work themselves into the food supply where food moves across these counters. By developing self-cleaning counter tops, which keep bacteria from growing and kill such bacteria on contact, the problem is eliminated. This of course does not mean we throw away our training in the QSR industry or kitchens of restaurants across the country. This does not mean that we stop programs or consumer awareness either. We have an opportunity to protect the integrity of the fast food industry, consumer confidence in the food supply and prevent a future pandemic of flu, small pox or spread of diseases, which are already over taxing our public health system and medical industry.

Penn State University by teaming up with PPG is a sign that American Innovation can solve the problems, which plague mankind. Each year the CDC (U.S. Centers for Disease Control) reports that some 76 million suffer from food-borne illness, which accounts for almost 350,000 hospitalizations and approximately 5000 plus deaths.

These counters would be similar to the self-cleaning glass technologies using coatings such as titanium dioxide in ultra thin layers (80,000 times thinner than a human hair). Titanium dioxide " also called titania " is also used in the white pigment paints and some foods. There are many reports and white papers showing that titanium dioxide becomes highly activated in ultraviolet light and thus destroys any organic molecules it touches, including dust and dirt. Additionally Titania transforms water and oxygen molecules into superoxides and hydroxyl radicals, which also destroy organic molecules, this makes it a perfect coating material to use on counter tops.

When ultraviolet rays, the lights in the restaurant, hit this coating it will produce electrically charged particles, which in turn would destroy the bacteria by ripping apart the chemical bonds. The slightly charged coating is also slippery due to their chemical make-up so bacteria cannot stick to the counter's surface.

In cases where Avian Flu might reach epidemic proportions in the world such a technology in poultry processing plants could also be prevented.

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The USDA has been working on certain coatings on food packaging to prevent bacteria from spreading. Some $400,000 has already been allotted. Using this technology on in the insides of Trailers and Reefers in food transportation, food processing, food serving in both the public and private sector in restaurants and institutions we can reduce the number of deaths each year in our country due to food poisoning and improper and undetectable bacteria control.