Many people know that the El Paso County Department of Health and Environment inspects restaurants, grocery stores, delis and other retail food establishments. But some people may not know that inspections aren’t just designed to protect patrons.The inspection process also protects businesses by providing them with information to prevent food-handling problems that could drive patrons away or even lead to a restaurant closure.In its enforcement of the Colorado state regulations, the health department’s consumer protection program inspects each retail food establishment on an unannounced basis twice a year and additional times for follow-up or upon complaint. In those inspections, health department experts are looking closely for food storage, handling, preparation and serving practices that could contribute to outbreaks of food-borne illness, such as Salmonella and E. coli. Most food-borne illnesses are caused by bacteria or viruses that can be present in raw food but killed by proper cooking.Some 80 percent of such outbreaks are due to five factors:
- Improper food cooling for storage
- Too long of time lapse between food preparation and serving
- The presence of an infected person, such as a cook or prep cook, or poor personal hygiene, such as poor hand washing.
- Inadequate reheating of food for serving
- Improper holding of hot foods before serving
If you think about it, these are the same things that could go wrong in your kitchen at home; yet, the potential to make a large number of people sick is much greater in a public setting. Nationally, for example, more than 40,000 cases of Salmonella are reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention each year. In El Paso County, the health department investigated 111 reports of food-borne illness in 2005 and 63 reports so far in 2006.During an inspection, a violation can be determined to be critical – requiring immediate action, usually while the inspector is present, or non-critical, usually related to equipment maintenance or general facility cleanliness. Just one critical violation causes a business to receive an unsatisfactory review and triggers a follow-up inspection if the problem isn’t corrected on the spot. If violations are not corrected, the civil penalty process can be employed, resulting in fines of $250 to $1,000 per violation.As a restaurant patron, you’ll probably never have personal contact with a health department inspector. In fact, you probably won’t know an inspector is present at an establishment, although you have a right to see inspection reports in person at the health department or the Web site:
www.elpasocountyhealth.org.But if you are a business owner or operator, you may have more personal contact with health department inspectors, which started with the health department’s review of your plans before opening your business and continues with regular inspections and educational opportunities. Remember that the health department’s role is to protect your patrons from food-borne illness and ultimately, to help you protect your business from the problems that an outbreak of food-borne illness can cause.As you may know, state law authorizes health department inspectors to visit your business at any time during normal business hours and to visit any part of the facility. Upon arrival, health department inspectors will
- Introduce themselves and show a health department picture ID
- Indicate whether this is a routine or complaint-driven inspection
- Invite you to accompany them during the inspection
- Remain discreet and professional in their duties, not announcing their presence to anyone except the business owner or operator
- Keep clear record of their findings and share those findings with the business owner or operator before departing
- Provide guidance on how to become compliant with the state regulations
The inspection process is just part of the health department role with the food-service community. As part of the HCH Food Safety Task Force, the health department works with the hospitality industry and others in the community to promote food safety practices through education and advocacy. Among the activities are food safety classes provided by the health department. HCH graduates receive laminated cards, and participating businesses display “HCH-certified” plaques.The health department is committed to working with business owners and operators, as well as patrons, to continually improve food safety in our community. If you have questions or suggestions, please contact the consumer protection program at (719) 575-8636 or visit the health department’s Web site at
www.elpasocountyhealth.org.Retail food establishments covered: restaurants, fast food establishments, schools, grocery stores, delis, cafeterias, bakeries, hotel continental breakfasts, gas stations, ice cream trucks, mobile food units and convenience stores.To make a complaint about a food-service establishment: Call (719) 575-8636 or e-mail
healthinfo@epchealth.org. Include the name and address of the establishment, the date of the incident, and your name, address and phone number.
To review restaurant inspections online: Visit www.elpasocountyhealth.org.This article was first published in the Colorado Springs Business Journal.
