White Coat Warriors

I can’t imagine having a job in which no one is happy to see me when I arrive. It feels uncomfortable to inspire unease, when by nature I'm easy going. Today, for just one day, I had that job. Health Inspector Kat. Well, guest of Health Inspector Chris, really, since I had no responsibility for any of the actual inspections. I was there for my annual tag along day where I gather fodder and funny stories for the food handler’s classes that I teach. It’s interesting to see how the concepts I teach are being put into practice out there in the restaurant world. Or not put into practice as the case may be…

First of all, I have the utmost respect for the county inspectors. They approach their inspections with more of an educational focus than that of enforcement, with a goal of making what could be an adversarial relationship, into one of mutual respect and cooperation. Not an easy task. Chris, the inspector I shadowed today, did an especially good job of this, balancing positive comments with suggestions for improvement.

So to the nitty-gritty… this is how it goes. We pull up in the county vehicle (the dreaded white Ford) don the gear, which for me was just a white lab coat, but for Chris it included a whole carry-on sized satchel of forms, educational materials, and whatnot, as well as a fanny pack of nifty tools- a point and shoot thermometer, a more accurate digital thermometer, alcohol wipes, sanitizer test strips, and who knows what else. We were well equipped. So we walk right in the front door, introduce ourselves, and head straight for the kitchen. It’s a little awkward since it’s a tiny galley-style kitchen with one well-fed chef commanding the aisle, and another ample sized dishwasher zigzagging back and forth trying to put dishes away. It seemed that no matter where we stood, we were blocking access to something. After the requisite hand wash we were off to the races. We checked temperatures of things, poked through the fridges, looked up, looked down, around and under, tested sanitizers, asked questions. We looked at the kitchen, the storerooms, the front of the house, the lounge, the ice machine out back in the shed, and the dumpster area. And then when the inspection was finished, we sat down in the lounge to write the report. Well, Chris wrote the report while I sat glued to the World Cup coverage.

What I find most interesting about the inspections is how elastic they are. Health codes seem so black and white but inspecting for the compliance to them is all gray. Not that violations are subject to the whim of the inspector, but that so much goes into considering to what extent enforcement is expected. They pick their battles based on prior inspections, prior inspectors (personality, expectations, etc.), kind of restaurant, menu offerings, age of facilities, and a hundred other more subtle variables. And the process is still very much pen and ink real. Once the report is written, the inspector meets with the person in charge of the restaurant, reviews the recommendations, and the forms are signed, dated, and filed back at the health department until it’s time for another go around. It’s not a particularly efficient process, but inspections aren’t a tidy business. It is one governmental type service which is still conducted on a very personal, thoughtful, and case by case basis, which is rather refreshing.