Fewer Fresno restaurants are closing for health violations. What’s changed?
There’s good news on the horizon for Fresno diners – it appears the region may finish this year with significantly fewer restaurants closed for health violations compared to the prior year.
Only one restaurant – a south Fresno taco shop – was closed for violations in November after a Fresno County public health inspection. That one location brings to 24 the number of restaurants that have been closed – some for a few hours, others for a few days – for food safety violations through the first 11 months of 2019.
A lack of hot water prompted the closure of Robertito’s Taco Shop on Jensen Avenue west of Highway 99 after a Nov. 21 inspection. That was the only closure reported by the county’s Department of Public Health last month.
Health regulations require hot water at kitchen sinks to be at least 120 degrees to ensure proper sanitation and hand washing, but the inspector noted that water at the Robertito’s location was running between 87 and 90 degrees. The restaurant was reinspected and allowed to reopen the same day after repairs were made to the water heater.
If the yearlong trend of closures continues this month, it would mean the number of restaurants shut for violations will be down by more than half from 2018. Last year, 59 establishments were closed by inspectors through November; two additional closures in December brought the full-year total to 61.
Fear of bad publicity
Wayne Fox, director of the county’s Division of Environmental Health, and supervising environmental health specialist Stephanie Kahl credited The Fresno Bee and its monthly stories on restaurant inspections and closures as one factor in what they see as much improved compliance among restaurateurs across Fresno County.
The Bee’s stories report the name and location of restaurants closed each month and the circumstances of the violations for which they were closed. “My honest opinion is that these owners are seeing the light (with The Bee’s stories) and they are concerned about it,” Fox said. “They are concerned about how they are perceived by the public.”
Robertito’s Taco Shops has 12 locations in the Fresno-Clovis area, as well as restaurants in Kerman, Kingsburg and Fallbrook. The location on Jensen Avenue was the only one affected by the November inspection. “They took the corrective action that was necessary and they were able to get reinspected and reopen that afternoon,” Kahl said. “I think it’s helpful for the public to see the circumstances and the background for a closure.” The Bee’s reporting, she added, “has brought this to the forefront and it’s getting (restaurant owners’) attention.”
There are about two dozen environmental health specialists covering the entire county. In addition to checking up on more than 5,300 restaurants, snack bars, grocery stores, commissaries, delicatessens and food vendors across Fresno County, some are responsible for inspecting other facilities such as tattoo or body art parlors, public swimming pools and other sites.
What inspectors look for
Inspectors typically visit restaurants for routine but unannounced inspections four times a year – or more frequently if there is a complaint from the public about sanitation conditions or if there is a suspicion about illness related to food safety at a restaurant.
There’s a checklist of more than 50 issues that inspectors use when they conduct an inspection at a restaurant, commissary, food truck or other food-service site. Usually, if an inspector finds an issue, it’s the kind of thing that can be quickly remedied without a closure order – things like having enough bleach in the water used to wipe down food-preparation counters, replacing lids on food containers in the walk-in refrigerator, resupplying paper towels in the restrooms or reminding employees to wear gloves or hairnets and to wash their hands.
But other things that represent an immediate danger to health and safety will trigger a closure until the problem can be solved. Those can include a lack of hot water for washing dishes or hands; infestations of rodents, cockroaches or other insects; refrigerators that don’t keep cold food cold enough and steam tables that don’t keep food hot enough to inhibit bacteria; or plumbing problems including backed-up drains and toilets.
Fresno County makes its restaurant inspection reports publicly available online at www.fresnohealthinspections.org.
This story was originally published December 5, 2019 at 10:00 AM.
