Restaurant Inspections Falling Short of 4-Times-a-Year Goal, Officials Say

Because of a lack of health inspectors, local restaurants in Orange County get reviewed for possible health-code violations three times a year even though county guidelines prescribe four inspections annually.

Officials said Friday that they don’t have enough workers to reach the four-inspection goal but are striving to visit food establishments with greater frequency.

“I am not happy or comfortable with the level we have now because I think we can do more,” said James E. Huston, assistant director of the county’s Environmental Health Department. “I think we offer the public safe and sanitary food service, but there are always problems. When it comes to the potential of food-borne illnesses, you have to always be on guard.”

Los Angeles County’s restaurant inspection program has come under intense scrutiny this week amid charges that establishments with gross health violations--including rat and roach infestation--were allowed to continue operating.

Elected officials in Los Angeles called Friday for an overhaul of the inspection system, the creation of a hotline where patrons could report unsanitary conditions and other reforms.

In Orange County, inspectors temporarily closed 147 food establishments last year for severe violations of health codes ranging for vermin infestation to unsanitary storage of meats. Another 600 were cited for lesser violations.

Overall, however, most of the county’s 6,500 restaurants had good records last year. About 80% complied with the vast majority of health codes. Only about 1% received what amounts to failing scores, according to county records.

Federal guidelines suggest that inspectors check restaurants four times a year to make sure that food is stored and prepared safely. While four inspections is the county’s goal, Huston said his department isn’t meeting the target--in part because of a lack of enough inspectors.

The county employs 54 field inspectors who make unannounced visits not only to restaurants but to supermarkets, liquor stores, bakeries and other food establishments. In addition, the health inspectors have other duties, including checks of swimming pools.

Huston said he wasn’t sure how many inspectors the county would need to meet the goal nor how much it would cost. The monitoring program is funded primarily through fees paid by restaurants. “Remember, more inspectors means increasing the fees on the businesses,” he said.

In recent years, the state has imposed dozens of new food-storage requirements dealing with a variety of issues, including the way utensils are cleaned, how food handlers wash their hands and the temperature at which raw eggs are refrigerated.

Huston said the new rules increase the length of each inspection, making it more difficult for the county to visit each restaurant four times a year.

The furor over Los Angeles County restaurant inspections was fueled by a series of reports on KCBS-TV showing unsanitary conditions at some of the city’s best-known eateries. Among other things, the reports showed raw meats sitting in kitchens without refrigeration and workers smoking and failing to wash their hands.

Los Angeles County supervisors vowed this week to improve the inspection process.

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Restaurant Ratings

Orange County health inspectors rank restaurants on a scale of 0 to 100, based on how they comply with health and food safety rules. The greater their compliance, the higher their score. How the county’s 6,500 restaurants rated in 1996:

80 or better: 80%

70-79: 14

60-69: 5

59 or worse: 1

Source: Orange County Department of Environmental Health; Researched by SHELBY GRAD / Los Angeles Times