Grand Jurors Urge Closer Eatery Checks

Health inspectors should grade Ventura County restaurants on how closely they comply with health regulations, according to a grand jury report released Friday.

Also, the panel of local residents recommended that county officials enact a “high-profile education program” to let diners know how they can register a complaint about a specific restaurant.

Finally, the jury suggests that inspectors with the county’s Environmental Health Division translate department food-handling procedures into languages other than English. Language barriers between inspectors and the owners of some restaurants sometimes exist, the jury said.

“We’re going to go ahead with two out of the three recommendations,” said Don Koepp, director of environmental health. “We think the first issue of grading has been addressed.”

Earlier this year the Board of Supervisors turned down the idea of grading restaurants, saying such a system could be misleading if violations have been resolved, Koepp said.

But Koepp acknowledged his department needed to do a better job of communicating food-preparation regulations to restaurant owners. The department had decided to translate information into other languages--including Spanish and a variety of Asian languages--in January.

In response to other jury concerns, the department will look into setting up a hotline that people can call to register complaints on the cleanliness of local restaurants, he said.