EL PASO COUNTY, COLO. -- The El Paso County Health Department has now made health inspections for food service restaurants available online for the public to see.
State law requires the Health Department to conduct unannounced food safety inspections of the 2,300 retail food establishments in Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, Fountain and other cities, towns and areas El Paso County. Those establishments include restaurants, school cafeterias, grocery stores, burrito vendors and more. New establishments also are inspected by the Health Department before they open for business, and establishments may be inspected as a result of complaints received from the public.
While the inspection results are posted in restaurants, they have not been available online until now.
Health officials are hoping the new accountability will help both customers and the restaurants they dine at.
"Its those ones that don't take us very seriously or don't think it's very serious, I think this will help because they will see that they are losing customers," Michelle Martinez, Environmental Health Specialist said.
Some of the factors the health department reviews during an inspection includes:
- Is the food from an approved source and free of spoilage?
- Are employees working while sick? Do they wash their hands often and correctly?
- Is food cooked hot enough and stored cold enough to kill germs or prevent their growth?
- Are water and sewer systems operating appropriately to provide for sanitation?
- Are pests present at the facility, and are toxic or poisonous materials stored properly for safety?
Steve Kanatzar, owner of The Airplane Restaurant, said he thinks the new website is a good tool for diners but said it's important to take a close look at the violations.
"If there is a little bit of food on the counter, that will be called food debris, and it sounds bad, and I mean, it is not good, but there is also something on the website that will show you what those violations are," Kanatzar said. "And again the vast majority of the violations can be and are corrected when they are on the site."
Health department officials said the inspections consist of areas not visible to the public, because the public's actions and habits in public areas would otherwise influence the inspection depending on the day.
Officials also said the inspections do not take into consideration the taste of the food itself or the quality of service.
Inspection reports online date back to January 2009, and new reports will be available once inspections are completed.
Kanatzar says that inspections are only a snapshot of what a restaurant is really like and good restaurants practice safe food handling at all times.
"If you have bad practices sooner or later it will catch up to you, and it will probably be at a guest expense," Kanatzar said.
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