County restaurants get (mostly) clean bills of health

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

By Sam Petri

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Dig through the records inside Teton County Environmental Health and you’ll be hard pressed to find any dirt on any one of Teton County’s 315 food service establishments.

There are no rats living in bags of rice, no overdue aioli dip or derelict dim sum dishes reportedly being served. A sensational story that uncovered the worst-run restaurants in Teton County would have been interesting, but it looks like most establishments are up to par.

The health inspection records for all of Teton County’s permitted food service facilities can easily be viewed in the basement of Teton County’s Public Health building on 460 E. Pearl Ave. They are compiled by the Teton County Environmental Health, whose offices are in the same building and who monitors all of the food service facilities.

Right now they employ two heath inspectors – Sara Budge and Michael Dart – who, among performing a myriad of other duties, pay regular surprise visits to food service establishments in the area. The two document violations they observe while on site. They then follow up by revisiting the offending establishment to make sure the violations have been corrected.

Violations are deemed either critical or non-critical. According to Environmental Health Records, the top three critical violations committed in 2006 by Teton County food service establishments were related to 1) the “handling of ready-to-eat foods,” 2) the “handling/storage/labeling of toxic items,” and 3) keeping “food contact surfaces clean.”
The first violation, committed by 67 establishments in 2006, means the establishments didn’t have a hand washing policy that every employee had signed. It does not necessarily mean people weren’t washing their hands.

The second violation, committed by 64 establishments in 2006, simply means that cleaning products didn’t have a label clearly marking what they were. It does not necessarily mean that the employees didn’t know what they were or were using them improperly.

The third violation, committed by 55 establishments, is less excusable. It means areas where food was being processed – like cutting boards and counter tops – were not clean. Depending on what kind of food had touched the surface, this could be dangerous.
The fourth top critical violation, essentially the same as the third and committed by 54 establishments, was that food contact surfaces were not sanitized.

Most critical violations are corrected with the guidance of Budge or Dart within 10 days.
“I think because of the quality of restaurants that we have here, folks are pretty aware of the hazards and have been real cooperative with the inspections and following through,” said Teri Gregory, Public Health Manager. “And because we have been able to get into the restaurants regularly they are all aware of what needs to be done.”

Some County residents may remember Sato’s Sushi and Tempura, a Japanese Restaurant. Environmental Health had to temporarily shut them down when they observed that no one was in charge with proper knowledge of how to run a restaurant (the 15th most common violation in 2006 with 24 establishments in violation). It was the owners of Sato’s who chose not to reopen, but it was not Environmental Health that permanently shut them down. In fact, in the last 10 years neither Gregory nor Budge could recall the need for Environmental Health to permanently shut any establishment down or revoke a license.

Most health inspectors in Wyoming are Department of Agriculture employees who work for the state and are assigned a county, according to Gregory. Here in Teton County, the health inspectors work for the county. The advantage is having the employees work within the community they live.  “We’re lucky to have [people] home-based to do those inspections,” said Gregory.

Of the seven years that Budge has worked as a health inspector in Teton County, the worst thing she has seen was cockroaches on one occasion during her first year on the job.  “For me it was pretty amazing, because I’m not from a cockroach area,” she said. “But it probably wouldn’t have been a big deal if I was from somewhere else.”  They had come in on a shipment of food and were taken care of promptly.
“On the whole, it’s pretty safe to eat out in Jackson,” Budge said.
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County restaurants get (mostly) clean bills of health | Planet JH News Article: Business

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