Have you ever gone to a restaurant and had second thoughts about an open salad bar or worried that the burger you just took a bite was undercooked?

Unless you have access to the kitchen it may be impossible to know if your meal was prepared under sanitary conditions. That’s where inspectors from the Kitsap Public Health District come in play.

The inspectors make unannounced visits at over 1,400 food establishments countywide. “The purpose of our inspections is to assure that food is being handled properly – from receiving to preparation, and through serving,” said Dayna Katula, KPHD program manager of the food and living environment program.

“We can’t be doing real-time inspections of every restaurant at all times to make sure the food is absolutely safe for every meal but by doing these inspections we can help set a baseline for food safety to make sure these restaurants have the facilities they need to keep food safe and are aware of the regulations that need to be followed to keep food safe,” Katula said.

Inspections also are done at other locations where food is sold or prepared, including grocery stores, coffee shops, food trucks, bakeries and at kitchens of caterers. Temporary food outlets at farmer’s markets and food booths at fairs are also subject to evaluations.

Restaurants undergo inspections twice a year and are done without advance notice. “We want to see how they are running their operation all the time. If they are expecting us, they are going to be prepared in ways they might not be every day and would be on their best behavior,” Katula said.

A typical restaurant inspection takes an hour but can last longer if violations are found. “We look at food handling practices to make sure food is at the right temperature and being stored in a sanitary way. We also check employee hygiene practices – we want to make sure they are also being sanitary in the way they are handling food and that the food workers aren’t coming to work sick,” the program manager said.

Each environmental health specialist has earned a bachelor’s degree and gone through KPHD training, which includes 50 inspections with an experienced inspector.

Typical violations

Common health code violations center on the way food is stored, Katula said. For example, inspectors can come across a refrigerator that is not cold enough or containers that hold hot foods, like soup, are not warm enough. In both scenarios there is potential for bacteria, or pathogens, to build up in products that can cause food-borne illnesses in customers, Katula noted.

An inadequate hand-washing sink for staff is another typical violation. “That might be written as a violation because the current station didn’t have soap or paper towels stocked or there were dirty dishes placed at the station,” she explained.

There are two categories of violations – critical and non-critical.

Critical violations have a high potential to make someone sick, county officials said. Examples include – when a restaurant worker has barehand contact with foods that are ready to be served, such as a fully prepared hamburger or fries, and when an ill food worker is working with food.

Non-critical violations have a low potential to make people sick, but contribute to the overall adequacy of the establishment, such as dirty floors that are unsightly but do not contribute to the safety of the food.

If an inspector observes a critical violation the problem is addressed on the spot. “We need to have it corrected on-site while we are there. We are not leaving with a critical violation in place,” Katula said.

There are several ways to correct many issues. If food is not stored at the proper temperature the situation may be remedied by adjusting the temperature of the storage unit. Other times the food will need to be thrown out.

A serious violation can result in immediate closure of the business until the situation is remedied. A rat infestation, sewage backup or an establishment without running water can lead to immediate closure, Katula noted. The drastic action happened four times last year. No closures have been ordered so far this year, KPHD records show.

Inspectors strive to have a good working relationship with staff at locations they visit. “If there is a violation happening, we are writing it because the public needs to know it occurred, but we really try to lean into the education part of why a particular food handling practice is important. Once staff knows the ‘why’ behind (regulations), they understand more the reason they should follow it,” Katula said.

Inspection results are available to the public. People can go online to kitsappublichealth.org/foodreports.

“We really want to be a resource for our food establishments so if something goes wrong, they call us not out of fear but out of knowing that we want to help them and can provide technical assistance. We have also been to a lot of other establishments so we can generally try and think of a creative solution that they may not have come up with on their own.”