How restaurants get ready for health inspections

Untrained people cooking food, a lack of proper cleanup, and rats in cabinets are just a few of the violations discovered during a routine inspection by health inspector Ron Lawson at a temporary food service facility.

"I had to close the place they had never even obtained a permit," he said. Lawson calls it one of the strangest situations he's ever walked into. He added, however, that most people do know what's expected healthwise in running a restaurant or food service establishment.

The key element of that knowledge is knowing how to prepare for the inevitable inspection.

Scott Morgan, kitchen manager of the Pasta House at the Battlefield Mall, said the only way to be prepared is to assume the inspector will be there every day. "We walk through our kitchen looking for possible trouble spots, like things not having a label on them," he said.

All Pasta House managers are required to take a 16-hour course and a final exam on health issues. "When you take this course, you see the potential dangers in restaurants," Morgan said. "You learn about food-related illnesses, what can be done to prevent them and the consequences of not preventing them. When it comes time for an inspection, you learn the inspector is just doing his job."

Morgan is in favor of changing the number of annual inspections from once to twice a year.

"Otherwise, too many places can slip by for too long," he said. "Hopefully, this will cause the management and the employees to be on their toes more."

Steve Palenik has been a manager of the Mexican Villa at 1408 S. National for 25 years. He said the health inspectors do a good job and are fair in their judgment. "Since you never know when they're coming, you try to keep the place as clean as possible day by day," he said.

Palenik said he's in favor of restaurants being inspected two times a year and of the inspections being available for the public to read.

"People are more health-conscious these days," he said. "Now they can see how their favorite restaurant is doing on their inspections."

Note: The Springfield Business Journal prints the health inspection results weekly in the On the Record section. They can be found this week on pages 31, 34 and 35.