restaurant inspections

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KITV.com (HI) reports that when people complain to the state Department of Health about unhealthy practices at restaurants, the state sends a sanitarian to inspect — sometimes the same day.
In March, a customer filed a complaint against Grace’s Inn in Kaimuki at Market City Shopping Center. The complaint said the female cashier was chewing and spitting tobacco while helping customers at Grace’s plate lunch counter.
An inspector spoke to the person in charge at the restaurant, who said she would counsel the employee who was known to chew tobacco.Continue Reading State inspectors investigate complaints of food illness

Melinda Rogers of The Forum reports that Clay County has consistently failed to perform inspections on 119 food, beverage and lodging establishments over the past five years.
A Forum investigation into county records dating back to 2002 show the county’s lone food inspector barely grazed the surface of examining dozens of schools, restaurants, nursing homes and other institutions that require regular inspections under Minnesota law.
The Forum in April began reviewing records for 86 Clay County establishments and 33 establishments in Wilkin County that the Clay County inspector is contractually required to examine.
The records don’t include statistics for the city of Moorhead, which handles its own food safety inspections.Continue Reading Food safety checks lapse

An NBC 5 investigation uncovered a serious flaw in the way most restaurants keep their kitchens and dining areas cleasn. The problem, scientists warn, is the type of cleaning towel restaurants use — standard issue cotton towels. Most restaurants do not know that these towels can be a breeding ground for bacteria.
From restaurant to restaurant, you’ll find most servers cleaning tables with cotton towels. NBC 5 uncovered serious evidence that these so-called industry-standard towels may be one reason why so many people get sick after eating out.
Nationally recognized food safety consultant Dee Clingman was cited as telling NBC 5 most restaurants have no idea cotton towels can put patrons at risk, adding, “You need not to be using cotton or linen towels if you want to sanitize properly.”Continue Reading NBC 5 uncovers restaurant danger

Brad Cooper of the Kansas City Star reports that Kansas is making it easier to find out if the kitchen at your favorite restaurant is dirty. The state health department on Thursday announced that it is putting restaurant health inspection reports on the Internet. No more writing to Topeka and waiting a week to get a report back.
Now learning about the conditions found at a restaurant means going to www.ksfoodsafety.org, where you should be able to look up any of the thousands of food service establishments that the state inspects every year.Continue Reading Kansas puts restaurant violations on Web

Kevin Landers 10TV News (Ohio) asks, “Just how clean is your favorite place to eat?” 10TV News investigations discovered what really happens behind the counter.
Kent Bradley and his team of food inspectors examine 1,700 food establishments twice a year to make sure what you eat is safe. They are looking for issues that can lead to food-borne illnesses, like Salmonella poisoning.
According to the Ohio Department of Health, prepared food at restaurants and delicatessens had the highest number of reported outbreaks of food-borne illness. Statewide, the number jumped from 58 cases in 2001, to 80 in 2005. That’s an increase of 38 percent.Continue Reading 10TV News investigates local restaurants

Gabrielle Hamilton of The New York Times reports that the 1990’s, restaurant inspections by the New York City Department of Health were famously lethargic and intermittent. A bill palmed to the inspector got one’s establishment a cursory inspection every other year or so and often a phone call in advance — giving the proprietor a chance to straighten up and the inspector a chance at a token of gratitude.
During the Giuliani administration, that all changed. Jaywalking, turnstile-jumping and peep shows in Times Square were no longer tolerated, and neither were restaurants that recycled the butter in bread baskets. Exhaustive unannounced inspections became the rule. Fines flowed into the city’s treasury. Gone were the cartoonish, winking inspectors who enjoyed free meals at the restaurants they were supposedly scrutinizing; in their place were hard-working, computer-toting “public health sanitarians” with college degrees. You should not even offer these inspectors, who now work for the revamped and renamed Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, a glass of water during their visit.Continue Reading Good Enough to Fine

Kathy Stephenson of The Salt Lake Tribune reports that restaurant inspector Leslie Freeman visits each of the county’s restaurants twice a year – no easy task, as there are 210 year-round restaurants and 30 seasonal establishments.
Restaurants that receive several “critical violations” – ones that can cause a foodborne illness outbreak – will get an additional visit to make sure problems have been addressed. The inspection process is similar across Utah.Continue Reading Food-safety sleuths

Gary White of The Ledger reports that Barbara Whitman’s 63rd birthday was unforgettable — and not in a good way. Whitman’s two sisters took her out to one of her favorite Lakeland restaurants the night before her birthday last August. She indulged in a crabmeat appetizer and her usual entree, mahi mahi, both of which she found delectable.
Later that night, though, Whitman awoke to a sensation of extreme nausea. The misery carried though her birthday, ruining a home-cooked dinner her sister, Angela Akins, planned for Whitman and their mother, whose birthday was three days later.Continue Reading Restaurant Inspections

Mary Lane Gallagher of The Bellingham Herald reports that dirty floors can make restaurant-goers queasy. But health inspectors know it’s dirty hands that can really make you sick.
And in many cases, area restaurant workers aren’t washing their hands enough, according to a Bellingham Herald analysis of unofficial internal electronic records from the Whatcom County Health Department. Inspectors also find dozens of restaurants and other food service establishments that don’t keep food hot or cold enough, providing an opportunity for disease-causing bacteria to grow. That, to inspectors, is more worrisome than most dirt they can actually see.Continue Reading Restaurant inspectors on the front lines against food-borne disease

Tammie Smith of the Times-Dispatch reports that restaurant inspections in Virginia turn up plenty of establishments with violations. Consumers can find out if their favorite breakfast, lunch or dinner spot is a culprit by going to the Virginia Department of Health’s restaurant inspection Web site: www.healthspace.ca/vdh.
Inspection reports for more than 25,000 restaurants and other food service establishments around the state are included in the database, which has been online since May 1, 2003.Continue Reading Restaurant reports available online for Va.