On the surface, dining out is simply offering money in exchange for being fed. As soon as the patrons take the first bite of what is brought to their table, however, they are not just paying for a meal, they are paying for their well-being. Quality and taste are important, but personal health is essential.
Restaurateurs have to follow government rules around health and safety. They have to meet the minimum safety standards as set out by WorkSafeBC for the well-being of their employees. They also have to meet the minimum standards set out by Northern Health in regards to food handling and storage, as well as sanitary conditions in the kitchen and throughout the establishment. Both agencies routinely send inspectors to ensure these standards are being met.
The results of those inspections are public knowledge, published by both of those agencies on their websites. The Citizen routinely reports on area employers fined by WorkSafeBC for unsafe working conditions and has recently resumed reporting on restaurant inspections. There is a clear public interest in the results of those inspections.
In the case of local restaurants, they almost always receive a low hazard rating, meaning that an inspector found the facility meets all of the minimum health standards and there is a low health risk to the public. Restaurants get flagged when they receive a moderate or high risk rating, when an inspector finds one or multiple infractions of various seriousness.
Yet in the same way that restaurants are compelled to serve their customers safe food, Northern Health also has an obligation - to both restaurateurs and the dining public - to report the results of their inspections in a timely and accurate manner.
The health authority has struggled on both fronts in the last two months.
In April, Northern Health's website informed residents that seven local restaurants had a moderate hazard rating. Literally one minute before a scheduled interview to speak to the ratings, Northern Health updated the website to show five restaurants on the list.
Then last week, Northern Health's website still showed China Taste as having a moderate rating, even though it had actually received a low risk rating - the best rating possible - in its April 5 inspection. Only after The Citizen published its story and China Taste's owners contacted Northern Health was the website corrected on Monday.
Meanwhile, a low hazard rating may not tell the whole story.
Inspectors have been giving that designation while still finding local restaurants made critical violations in food storage and handling. Inspectors have done that with numerous local restaurants, even ones that have what appears to be an unblemished record of low hazard ratings.
The response from Dr. Sandra Allison, the chief medical health officer responsible for public health, is refreshing. She admits that the current process for restaurant inspections and public reporting needs improvement. She pledges she will take action.
There are alternatives.
Requiring restaurants to post their health inspections on their door for diners to see would help. In Toronto, the restaurant inspection report must be posted at or near the main entrance at all times and it's colour-coded with green for a pass and yellow for a conditional pass. The red notice is when the restaurant has been closed due to failure to correct multiple, serious violations.
This kind of full disclosure is good for restaurants and great for diners.
For the Pan Am restaurant, which had three high hazard ratings and three moderate ratings in six inspections during the month of April, such a posting on the door would have informed prospective diners about the ratings. From there, diners could make up their own minds about whether they would go inside or head elsewhere.
As for China Taste, they would have had the low hazard rating right on their door since April 5.
Hopefully Dr. Allison can quickly deliver on her promise, for the sake of all local restaurants and their patrons.
