Most people probably don’t give much thought to a health inspection when they sit down at a restaurant, take a dip in a public pool or visit a body art establishment.
That’s partly the point.
“If you don’t know what we’re doing, that means we’re doing our job right,” said Claudia Terrell, Chief — Public Health with the Oakland County Health Division. “If you’re out there having a fun weekend, going to a restaurant, getting a tattoo, going for a swim in a public pool, you’re safe. We’re there protecting you day in and day out.”
It’s a substantial job. Oakland County has more than 5,000 licensed food facilities, and restaurants receive inspections at least twice a year. Terrell said the county conducts more than 15,000 restaurant inspections annually. Inspectors also visit public swimming pools and body art establishments.
But what exactly are they looking for?
Inspectors don’t simply arrive with a clipboard and start checking boxes. Terrell said they begin by introducing themselves and finding the person in charge, then take an initial walk through the kitchen to see what’s happening at that moment.
“Are they prepping items, cooling items? Is there something different going on that we can check out in that moment?” Terrell said. Inspectors then move through coolers and equipment, check temperatures and date marking, and observe employees preparing food and washing their hands.
Five Major Areas Inspectors Watch
Senior Public Health Sanitarian Erica Faranso described the “big five” that help inspectors frame a restaurant inspection — the five major foodborne illness risk factors:
- Inadequate cooking temperatures: Food was never cooked to the proper internal temperature.
- Improper holding temperatures: Refrigeration or hot-holding equipment isn’t keeping food at safe temperatures.
- Food from unsafe sources: Food may come from an unlicensed source or have been prepared at home and brought into a restaurant for sale.
- Contaminated equipment: Equipment isn’t being properly cleaned and sanitized before and after use.
- Poor personal hygiene: Employees may be working while ill, failing to wash their hands or not using gloves when required.
Those issues receive particular attention because of their connection to foodborne illness.
“Those are what we’re going to kind of frame our inspection around,” Faranso said. “Those are priority violations. So those have more implication on whether or not it leads to a foodborne illness.”
Education Before Enforcement
Both Terrell and Faranso emphasized something residents may find surprising: The objective isn’t to walk into a restaurant looking for reasons to punish or close it.
“We’re not out there to really cite violations and throw away food and cause drama at the restaurants. We’re there to educate,” Terrell said. “We want to work with the staff who are there, the person in charge, managers, make sure that they have the food safety knowledge in order to conduct safer business every day.”
Faranso said no two inspections are exactly alike.
“You don’t necessarily know what you’re walking into,” she said. “It could be a very easy inspection. Or there could be a lot of things that are wrong. Our main job is to kind of help get everything into compliance.”
That can mean spending additional time educating restaurant employees. In other situations, inspectors may need to take a stronger regulatory approach.
Closing a restaurant, however, requires considerably more than simply finding a violation.
“A lot of people think that we can just go in and shut someone down,” Faranso said. “In order to do that, it has to be an imminent public health hazard.”
Examples she has encountered include serious pest infestations, major power outages that prevent a restaurant from operating safely, or sewage or drainage problems near food preparation areas. Otherwise, she said, further enforcement generally follows significant continued noncompliance.
Protecting the Community They Live In
For both inspectors, the work ultimately comes back to the people on the other side of the restaurant table.
“We do a really good job here at Oakland County,” Faranso said. “Spending a lot of time with our clients, making sure that they understand, helping educate them, providing translation material, whatever it is to help make sure that they are following the food code and are in compliance the best they can.”
It’s also personal.
“I tell people that I’m from this community, too, so I want to make sure that the food being sold to customers is safe,” Faranso said.
After nearly a decade with the county, she said the variety of the work and its impact remain among the things she likes most about the job.
“I love helping,” Faranso said. “I love knowing that I’m making a difference in the community.”
For Terrell, the most rewarding moments can happen during an inspection itself.
“The best moments have really been when I see the manager, and it clicks in their eyes when we’re talking about something, and I can educate them about how the process works and how it works best in their restaurant,” she said. “For me, that’s the most fulfilling part of our job.”
By the Numbers
37 field inspectors, including standardized trainers and plan reviewers, conduct inspections. There are closer to 50 total staff with supervision and clerical support included.
1,000+ inspections are completed in a typical month 180-220 facilities are assigned per inspector.
30 days is the timeline inspectors are given to complete the restaurant inspections assigned to them each month.
2 times per year is the minimum frequency restaurants are inspected, with additional inspections when enforcement is required.
5,000+ licensed food facilities are overseen by the county.
15,000+ restaurant inspections are conducted annually.
5 major foodborne illness risk factors frame an inspection: inadequate cooking temperatures, improper holding temperatures, food from unsafe sources, contaminated equipment and poor personal hygiene.
8 chapters make up the food code inspectors use to guide their work, underscoring the breadth of what they must evaluate.
946 public pools are inspected by the county.
178 body art facilities are subject to county inspections.
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