Loophole keeps eateries’ failed inspections quiet
by Tom Stauffer on Apr. 08, 2008, under Edge, Local, TasteRestaurants with new owners not put on reports
County sanitarian Erica Lopez checks the temperature of half and half during a restaurant inspection. Foods held at unsafe temperatures are frequently reported as critical violations that can lead to a restaurant failing an inspection.
Two restaurants failed county inspections in March, but because of a loophole, such records don’t appear on the Health Department’s monthly inspection reports.
It’s a loophole that Sharon Browning, program manager for the Pima County Consumer Health and Safety unit, said she hopes can be closed by revising the current county code.
“It kind of distorts the record a little, because these restaurants have failed their inspections just like restaurants that are listed in the monthly reports,” Browning said. “Because of a legal issue that’s related to a change of ownership or an initial inspection, they can sort of fly under the radar.”
Los Betos, 32 N. Campbell Ave., and Cuvée World Bistro, 3352 E. Speedway Blvd., failed unannounced inspections March 19 and 25, respectively. It takes five or more critical violations to fail an inspection. Los Betos had 10 critical violations; Cuvée had six.
Browning said that restaurants failing such inspections but escaping scrutiny on monthly reports is common enough to warrant revision.
“For example, the same thing happened in February with Ali Baba Restaurant (2545 E. Speedway Blvd.) where the new owner failed his inspection,” Browning said.
The point of releasing inspection records is to inform the public in the interests of protecting consumer health and safety, so it makes sense that any failed inspection should be part of the monthly reports, she said.
“These are public records, and they are there on the Web site if people search restaurants individually, as you did, but they fall into this little loophole the way the code presently is written,” Browning said.
The loophole surfaced several years ago when the county overhauled its licensing and inspection system. In addition to making data available online, the overhaul included dividing the license holders and their statuses into specific categories, she said.
“What happened was that in giving different statuses to different license holders, we didn’t realize that we would have to craft certain statements regarding these statuses into the code to include them in the monthly reports,” Browning said. “It wasn’t intended to give new owners a break. It’s really just a mistake, and in order to be on the safe side, it was determined that we would exclude those restaurants from monthly inspections until they had been issued inspections that weren’t related to changing ownership or initial inspections.”
Representatives from Los Betos did not return phone calls seeking comment. Cuvée owner Robert Bossardet was forthright in acknowledging the restaurant’s failed inspection.
“First and foremost, I embrace responsibility for all of it,” said Bossardet, who bought Cuvée from chef and founding owner Mitch Levy in November. “It doesn’t matter if some of the problems were due to predecessors or the fact that it’s a 55-year-old building. I own it, and I’m responsible for it.”
The sanitarian for Cuvée’s inspection reported critical violations for 10 different food items that were not being held at proper temperatures, observed three live cockroaches and one dead one in four different areas of the restaurant, and found two pans stored as clean containing food debris, among other violations.
Bossardet said he contracted the state’s top entomologist and has embarked on an extensive, proactive pest eradication program. He also said all other violations relating to food operation and handling were rectified during the inspection.
“The program was literally implemented the day of the inspection and it’s an eradication program that is very intense and comprehensive,” he said.
Complicating matters is the fact that the restaurant’s two previous inspections resulted in “excellent ratings” despite a host of infrastructural problems that Bossardet inherited. The sanitarian noted:
• Gaps at the bottom of both back doors.
• Several holes in the walls throughout the restaurant.
• Gaskets in refrigerators and freezers in need of repair.
• Kitchen floor tiles broken and in disrepair and grout worn down.
How the restaurant could have such infrastructural problems yet earn excellent ratings on inspections speaks to the prioritizing of inspections to focus on issues most directly related to food safety and sanitation, said Ben Stepleton, program manager for Food Safety and Environmental Services for the Arizona Office of Environmental Health.
“Right or wrong, there has been a change in the focus of inspections in general from the FDA on down to concentrate more on things that are really directed to foodborne illness outbreaks, specifically, things like food temperatures and how foods are handled,” Stepleton said. “What can happen with established restaurants is that, if they’re really doing a good job on the food handling, those infrastructural problems are not going to be as high a priority.”
Browning said that’s another issue she’d like to see in an overhaul of the county code.
“I’m sorry to say that infrastructural things like that are considered minor, because what they’re really worried about is things that are going to make people sick,” she said. “A hole in a wall is not going to make anybody sick, but when we connect the hole in the wall to a pest violation, then it becomes critical,” she said.
Browning noted that the county code gives Cuvée 90 days to repair its infrastructure violations, but that the restaurant has already made most of the repairs.
Bossardet said he expects the restaurant to score “excellent” on a reinspection scheduled this week.
“Yes, this has been very uncomfortable for me, but I have no issue with the county health department, because I’ve been very pleased that they have worked with me the way they have,” he said. “And there is good news in that these were things that were going to be done regardless of any inspection, and all we’re doing is expediting the process, so the restaurant will be in much better condition than it has been for our customers.”
Critical violations at Los Betos were:
• Potentially hazardous foods not held at proper cooling temperature.
• Employee’s hands and exposed arms not clean and properly washed.
• Employees not using proper hand and arm cleaning procedures.
• Employees eating, drinking, or using tobacco outside designated areas.
• Food employees not preventing contamination of ready-to-eat food by limiting bare hand contact to approved methods.
• Food separation, packaging, segregation and substitution methods not preventing food and ingredient contamination.
• Food contact surfaces and equipment not cleaned frequently and properly to prevent food contamination.
• Food contact surfaces not sanitized properly or approved equipment not being used.
• Foods not correctly date marked.
Almost any restaurant can receive one or two critical violations on any given inspection, Browning said.
“Sometimes it’s just a really bad day,” she said. “But when you get a failed inspection for five critical violations, that is indicative of some systems in food safety that need to be addressed.”
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INSPECTION REPORTS
View PDF files of the detailed inspection reports for Los Betos and Cuvée.
