By Keri Lynch

ALBANY, NY, March 19, 2007 - Eating in local restaurants may be hazardous to your health. There are many unsanitary procedures that take place behind closed doors, which the public is not aware of.  Unsanitary habits such as improper personal hygiene practices, improper hand washing, bare hand contact with ready to eat foods and improper cooking temperatures are some risk factors that may exist at local restaurants in Albany. Restaurant goers must ask themselves if the food they eat when dining out is really the safest and most sanitary.
        Health and safety is not necessarily the first thing that comes to a restaurant manager’s attention.  Often times managers are trying to please their customers and get the food out quickly to satisfy them.  But the hectic service oriented atmosphere can mean that the quality of the food is not always at its best. The restaurant Pepper Jack’s on Madison Avenue is a very popular restaurant that many college students and local residents patronize.

Michael Petrera, a cashier at Pepper Jacks, said that he doesn’t know every single rule of the proper health inspection by law but that “it’s written down somewhere in the restaurant.” When advised of Petrera’s comments upon leaving the restaurant, Jenna Crandall, a student attending The College of Saint Rose and frequent customer at Pepper Jack’s said “it is not very assuring that employees don’t even know the proper health laws associated with their restaurant.” Crandall went on to say, “do they even care about the restaurant’s environment, safety, or are they working there because they need money?”  The issue of sanitation has not been conveyed enough to customers who eat at these restaurants. Not knowing what goes on in the kitchen should raise concerns. Customers must be aware of the possibility of poor health practices that go on behind the scenes.
        Customers may be basing their trust on the way the restaurant looks, which can be misleading. The tables, chairs and floors may look sanitary but on the other hand the kitchen may be just the opposite. Other customers might assume that the Department of Health is a reliable watchdog and has taken diligent steps through regular inspections to assure the public that all health requirements are up to standard. However this is not always a prudent assumption

One recent and highly publicized example of the public’s misplaced trust and reliance on the vigilance and dependability of the Department of Health was clearly evident in the numerous reports of the extremely unsanitary conditions that existed at a Kentucky Fried Chicken/Taco Bell fast food restaurant in New York City. CBS news broke this story Friday February 23^rd, 2007 when, earlier that morning WCBS-TV cameras filmed through the window more than a dozen rats running wild on the floors, tables and counters while the Greenwich Village Restaurant was closed. The alarming video showed rats running, playing and eating leftovers off the floor of the restaurant at Sixth Avenue and West 4^th Street. Although the restaurant had been cited by the Department of Health on at least three previous occasions since 2004, the franchise restaurant had never been shut down. Just last December the city’s Health Department cited this KFC for evidence of  “live rats present in the facility’s food and non-food areas.” According to the Health Department website, the rat problem had been addressed. Obviously CBS news cameras proved otherwise. Although the report caused the restaurant to be shut down until all health code violations were addressed and the Health Inspector responsible for that location was ultimately suspended, it highlights the fact that the Department of Health was not a very reliable defender of public safety in this instance.

 In some cases there have been documented reports of health inspectors being bribed by restaurant owners to look the other way and give passing grades in exchange for a cash payment proving that some inspectors can be bought. This occurred a few years ago when the New York Times reported that Jose Huertas-Perez was “charged with taking $700 to reduce fines owed by restaurants for health violations, operating without a permit and dirty-food preparation areas.” Another concern is that the Dept. of Health does not make inspections often enough and when they do restaurant owners generally know when an inspector is due, which gives the managers, cooks, and other employees the advantage of cleaning their restaurant to the fullest extent.

The Albany County Department of Health website (www.albanycounty.com/restaurantinspections) states that at least one unannounced inspection is made each year. Other than that, the reality is that most restaurant owners and managers have a good idea when health inspectors are due based on inspectors geographic routines or word of mouth from fellow restaurant owners. When a Health Inspector is expected at The Ginger Man Restaurant located on Western Avenue, “the kitchen and restaurant must look spotless and a full staff is to be there in full uniform,” admitted Manager Julia Byron. Obviously since the restaurant owner has a good idea when the health inspector is coming, the health inspector is seeing the best-case scenario and not necessarily the real conditions that may exist during different time periods.

The Dept. of Health website goes on to say that establishments are inspected on a “risk basis” based on the type of operation. For example, a concession stand selling only popcorn and nachos would not be visited as often as a full service restaurant that prepares many types of food. More frequent inspections occur based upon a higher risk or if there has been an unsatisfactory annual inspection or if there are complaints from the public. Violations fall into two main categories, “red” and “blue”. Red violations are considered critical and relate directly to factors that lead to food-borne illness. These violations generally involve the food source and condition, food cooking and storage temperatures, sanitary practices, water and sewage, pest control and the use of poisonous materials.  Blue violations are considered non critical and do not directly cause food borne illness, but could negatively affect the operation of the restaurant. They relate to the design and maintenance of the establishment, as well as cleanliness. Red violations must be corrected either at the time of inspection or within 24 hours or the establishment will be shut down until the violations are corrected. For blue violations the Health inspector gives a time frame for compliance and the re-inspection is then conducted during this time frame.

            If some people think dining at larger restaurants will be a better experience, they may want to re-think their evening. “Before the food goes out, we’ll usually pick food off of their plates, like fries and chips,” Stacy Hunt, a waitress at T.G.I. Friday’s said. “No one wears gloves when putting the chips and salsa together, or when they put the bun on top of the hamburgers.” These routines that the Friday’s staff has become accustomed to and all other unsanitary actions are clearly something that customers should be aware of.  The public may never really know what health standards exist behind the scenes.

The Dept. of Health website admits that inspections are a “snapshot” in time and are not always reflective of the day-to-day operations and overall conditions of an establishment. One helpful tool for consumers that is available on the Dept. of Health website and takes only minutes to access is a link that allows the public to search every restaurant by name or location and view the history of each establishments inspections as well as the most current inspection reports for all restaurants within Albany County.  “When it comes to restaurant health standards, the best approach for the public is to be aware and observant,” said Commissioner James B. Crucetti of the Albany Department of Health in a recent telephone interview.