Kitchen Confidential:

Conclusions 1

• CL1
  The Grand Jury is aware that the Health Agency is committed to their food safety program and its efforts to educate the restaurant owner/manager about violations of health and food safety standards. However, the Health Agency is deficient in communicating to the consumer regarding restaurant inspections or ratings. Through the Award of Excellence certificate, the Health Agency is attempting to make the public aware of its restaurant inspection program. It does not appear that educating the public beyond this incentive program is one of its goals. The Health Agency’s website is another necessary element; making it more user-friendly would be helpful. This may not be enough to communicate with the public on the health ratings of local restaurants. An additional and easily accessible website, solely dedicated to county/neighborhood restaurants does not exist at this time. The 54-item Health Agency restaurant inspection form, although an effective tool for the Agency, is too detailed and complex for the dining public. Having a completed inspection form available at the food facility for consumer review may be all that is required by California law, but that does not prevent counties from imposing more stringent posting requirements. Although the Health Agency states a visible system would increase workload and costs, the Grand Jury suggests administrative policy changes could mitigate these expenses. The cost of a placard is 3 Both Ventura and San Diego Counties reported they are satisfied with their usage of a visible restaurant rating placard system. Kitchen Confidential 6/5/14 4 minimal and a restaurant’s subsequent request for a re-inspection could be charged back to the restaurant. Even with a thorough inspection form, website improvement and the inclusion of social media links, there remains a missing component to the Health Agency’s public education efforts - public notice. The San Luis Obispo County Health Agency could, and should, go beyond what is required by devising and implementing an efficient system that is easily recognizable and accessible to the public. More importantly, a usable system should be created that includes a visible placard in all county restaurants and a website to inform the public on their food safety.

Commendations 1

• CM1
  The Grand Jury commends the Health Agency for its Award of Excellence program because it does encourage restaurants to improve food safety.

Agency Responses 4

Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.