Surviving A Visit From Your Health Inspector

Restaurants are usually first on the list for your friendly neighborhood health inspector. The problem is you never know when that visit is going to occur. They look at all kinds of things, water temperature, refrigeration temperature, general maintenance, food storage, all kinds of stuff! I know owners and managers are usually nervous when these unannounced visits occur, and the best thing you can do, in all the chaos that is a commercial kitchen, is prepare!

From a pest control standpoint, there are some things to consider. You have constant deliveries coming through your doors, which means there are many opportunities for pests to be brought in or simply wander through that delivery door. This is why it is most important for food handling establishments, no matter how small, to have weekly pest control. It’s not because the company is trying to squeeze every last penny out of you; it’s because the business you chose to be a part of is prone to pest problems.

So, how do you survive a health inspector visit? Well, let me start with a story that might illustrate things for you. I once took over a commercial kitchen in the Abington area of Montgomery County, PA. It was a good-sized account, very busy, and pretty popular. They called for a mouse issue. During my initial inspection, I found massive amounts of mouse droppings under prep tables, in storage areas, and on shelves. It was out there in the open for anyone in the kitchen to see. There were also gaps in the door where daylight was shining in, and if daylight is shining in, a mouse can enter. As I explored more, I was finding droppings in drawers, on top of walk-in fridges, just all over.

I explained to the owner what I found and that they would need to clean up so we can monitor the situation and make some repairs to the doors. By cleaning up the mouse droppings they would be able to monitor if they reappeared in the different areas of the kitchen which would allow for us to refocus efforts to the active areas. It would also help big time in the event a health inspector came in, because they would have shut them down due to the mouse droppings alone in my opinion.

I continued to service the restaurant weekly for about a month and each week the droppings were not cleaned up. Each week I reported the areas on the pest control service slip. Finally I ran into the owner and pointed out the areas where the droppings continued to be and he got very angry and said just to do my job. From that interaction I formed the opinion that this owner was not going to partner with us and I dropped him as a client. He wasn’t getting closed down on my watch.

Why is it so important to clean up mouse droppings in a commercial restaurant kitchen? For many reasons. Sanitation, health and safety of your customers, pest control monitoring and of course, surviving a health inspection visit! It’s one of the easiest things for an owner or manager to do to limit the risk of getting fined. Pick a dedicated employee to thoroughly clean any droppings they see under every piece of equipment, on all shelves, in all cabinets and drawers. Be thorough the first time and it becomes easier as time goes on and guess what, the first thing the health inspector does when he or she comes into a facility is look for rodent droppings because they are so easy to find.

If the inspector can’t see droppings then he can’t fine you for them. Now it doesn’t mean you are without a mouse issue, with all the deliveries and in and out of people in a restaurant I would venture to say that mice are probably visitors in all restaurants, to spite what owners might say. Keeping after them and cleaning up their mess is the best thing you can do.

Aside from the mouse issues, being dillegent in repoirting Roach issues, flies are always a big one, which means investing in good fly lights to catch them in the kitchens. Again, your pest control company is not trying to get you to spend more money, they are trying to protect your reputation and keep you from getting fined. The other issue is small fly control like drain Flies and fruit flies. These are sanitation issues and can be dealt with by using a good drain enzyme or having a staff person physically scrub out drains.

So good old fashioned housekeeping will keep you fines from the health inspector at bay. You’re not trying to trick them, you are just showing them you are being diligent.