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How to Find Out More on Food Safety and Violations at Restaurants and Markets in Your Neighborhood!

What is Your Local Department of Public Health or Health Department

Doing to Keep You Informed?

Last Updated: July 7, 2010

Published: August 21, 2008 by Michael Doom, REHS

 

Never before has so much free information been available for quick and easy access, or can one person’s voice and opinion make such a difference.  This applies especially to consumers looking for best buys, best products, best quality, etc., and no less to dining and food market choices.

Most Environmental Health Food Inspection programs (the government agency responsible for inspecting and enforcing health & safety laws in food facilities, aka Health Department, Department of Public Health or Board of Health) in larger cities and counties in the U.S., now make available the latest inspection results online on their websites including scores, grades, violations, closure details, etc.  This publisheed information and other public displays at the facilities, including grades and postings, works out to the benefit of everyone involved.  It allows customers to be able to make educated choices, and it gives positive incentives for the businesses to maintain a high level of food safety and sanitation standards since they can very likely loose business otherwise.

Even individuals, who have on their own created websites, blogs, etc., critiquing local restaurants, have not only developed a following, but have caught the attention of the restaurants.  These restaurants are now more than ever listening to (or reading) these public comments, taking them seriously and making efforts to fix or change the negatives publicized about them. 

Although many of these comments may be more customer service or food quality related, there are some good food safety and sanitation comments that you can pick up as well.  Besides such internet giants as Yahoo and AOL that provide forums to search, make comments and see information on local establishments, there are numerous other websites you can find by just typing in your city and the words "restaurant" or "food critic" into any search engine! (with or without quotes)

Here are few other sources that much of the public doesn’t know about:

  • In California, it is now the law that the food facility must make the most recent inspection report available upon your request for viewing only, not a copy to take home.   If you are outside of California, get on the web, or the phone and search for your local Environmental Health Food Inspection program to ask them about this type of requirement in your neighborhood.
  • The inspection report must be the most recent.  All facilities should be inspected at least once a year and most are inspected more often.  Be suspicious if the report is more than a year old.

  • The inspection reports of all food facilities are public record, so even if is not available at the facility, you can always request a copy from your local Environmental Health Food Inspection program for a small copy and retrieval fee.

  • Familiarize yourself with the structure and way the food inspection report is used by your local program.  Below the identifying header information showing the business name and address, there is usually a check box section and then a corresponding narrative area to further detail the inspector’s observations and corrective actions required.  The report may very likely be grouped with the more severe or high-risk violations together, with the moderate and minor violations following.  Look for a score and the date of inspection and compliance date.  Once you become familiar with the report, you can more quickly identify problem violations and scan the report when requesting to view it from the restaurant, market, etc.

Not too long ago I requested to see the inspection report when I first stepped into a popular restaurant.  While looking at the copy, I immediately was able to see something wrong.  Being very familiar with the report allowed me to realize that pages were missing.  When the restaurant couldn’t find those pages, I advised them that they were in violation. I subsequently reported the restaurant to the local environmental health office to investigate further.

Thanks to the web and other advances in technologies and portable devices, more information is available, and there are more ways than ever before to find important food safety information on your local restaurants and markets.  Not only are local government agencies that inspect these facilities publishing this information, but individuals and businesses have developed web sites, blogs and other content and social media sites focused on publishing restaurant and market inspection and violation details.

About the Author

Michael Doom worked as a Registered Environmental Health Specialist (REHS) for Los Angeles County for more than 21 years.  For most of these years he worked as a field inspector and Supervising Senior REHS in the retail food inspection programs. His experience within Los Angeles County has taken him to some of the smallest “mom and pop” restaurants and markets in the poorest areas of south Los Angeles, as well as to the largest facilities and affluent areas on the west side. He has literally conducted thousands of inspections of numerous types of restaurants, food markets, warehouses, events, and more; educated hundreds, if not more than a thousand, food facility owners, managers and employees on food sanitation and food safety , and how to prevent food poisoning hazards; has supervised more than 50 field inspectors that were responsible for an inventory of food facilities larger than many U.S. states.

Mr. Doom has a B.S. in Biology from Loyola Marymount University, an REHS with the state of California, holds a Project Management Professional (PMP®) credential from the Project Management Institute, and a Master's Certificate in Project Management from George Washington University.  Mr. Doom continuously works to expand his knowledge and experience in the subject of food safety, sanitation and food poisoning prevention.

He can be reached at Mike@foodpoisoningprevention.com