BY LINN E. CAROLEO
Jun 13, 2005
Editor’s note: This is the second in a series about restaurant food safety and Yuma County’s efforts to enforce restaurant sanitation standards.
In several states, you know before you walk through the front door if the restaurant you plan to patronize is clean and sanitary.
Laws require those establishments to post in the window their grades in the most recent health inspection of the premises.
However, in Yuma County and in all of Arizona, such postings are not required by law.

So those who want to eat at an establishment they are unfamiliar with but who wish to know if it passed its latest health inspection, must make a little more effort.
The health department inspects more that 1,400 restaurants, school, stores, bars and rest stops in the county twice each year, said Brian O’Green, Yuma County’s environmental health manager. Each location gets graded and the results are viewable on the county’s Web site: www.co.yuma.az.us/ health/index.htm.
“All the counties have a rating system for restaurants,” said Will Humble, bureau chief of the Arizona Department of Health Services’ Department of Disease Control, “and when a restaurant is inspected, the inspector focuses on critical violations to the health code. The results of such inspections are usually posted on Web sites or made available to the public, and it is important that people utilize this information.”
If you do not have access to the Internet, it is possible to get information from any restaurant’s manager.
“One thing customers can do if they walk into a restaurant virtually anywhere in Arizona, is to ask the manager to see the last inspection report,” said Humble. “Now if they cannot find it, or will not show it to you, then that is a good indicator that you should probably turn around and not eat there. Any restaurant should have that inspection report handy and be proud to show it to the customer.”
O’Green agreed.
“(The county health department) would like to let the community know that getting involved with restaurant managers and letting them know when they are not happy with something in that restaurant — that is something they as customers have a right to do. The customer can ask to see a restaurant’s last inspection report and managers are required to have it on hand for anyone to take a look at,” said O’Green.
Yumans can also call the environmental health department and ask about any area eating establishments.
“When choosing a restaurant to dine in or even a grocery store to shop in, hyper-vigilance is the key,” said O’Green.
Currently Yuma residents have a heightened awareness about restaurant cleanliness, because of the hepatitis A scare that rippled through town last week, he said.
A worker at Chile Pepper restaurant was diagnosed with hepatitis A, prompting the county to offer immune globulin shots for patrons who ate at the restaurant between May 25 and June 2.
“The positive side of this event is that we have increased our awareness about diseases that can be spread through food or from food handlers. It is important to be careful and take measures to prevent these things from happening, but it is also important for consumers to know the dangers of food-borne illnesses and to be aware,” said O’Green.
He advises the public to become engaged and critical of the service and food they receive in Yuma restaurants and to speak up if something is not to their liking.
The Arizona Department of Health Services (www.azdhs.gov/phs/index.htm) reports that an estimated 25 percent of preventable illnesses worldwide can be attributed to poor food handler cleanliness or food storage facilities.
Food-borne illness imposes a burden on public health and contributes significantly to the cost of health care. Reducing risk factors in food handling can significantly reduce exposure to this type of illness.
“There is a vaccine against hepatitis A. It is a fairly new vaccine and it is a two shot series, but I imagine any family practice doctor can get it. I think anyone who lives in border towns, like Yuma, should get this vaccine today. If everyone involved with the Chile Pepper incident had been vaccinated, then no one would have to stand out in the sun waiting for an immuno globulin shot,” said Humble.
Not only are patrons of Yuma County restaurants worried, so are the owners.
“Because restaurant owners and managers are concerned after this incident of hepatitis A, I have had several of them call me this past week and ask if we (the health department) can come in and do a site visit soon. They want to use us as another set of eyes and take a look at their facilities, even if they have never had any problems,” said O’Green.
“Restaurant owners are running scared now. It has been a very sad experience. It has worn out the health department personnel and it has spread anxiety throughout the community. I think there have been a lot of sleepless nights for a lot of people.”
O’Green believes his job is to educate businesses in how to stay within the legal regulatory limits with respect to food handling, storage, cleanliness and public health safety. It is up to the restaurant managers to train their people.
“It is in (managers) own interest that they train their people properly. And that their employees abide by the safety and cleanliness regulations that we provide. In addition to that, it is important that the managers train their personnel in how to give good service, because the word about good service and having a superior product spreads fast in Yuma,” O’Green continued.
He added that if a person is in a restaurant and sees something that an employee does that they do not like, or they get served something that is not up to par, it is important to tell the restaurant manager about it right away. The way with which the problem is dealt with is important.
“If the problem is not dealt with to the customer’s satisfaction, then it is best if they call me here at the health department. Or they can send me an e-mail, to the director of the health department. We want to know when someone is not happy with the service they get, what occurred at the restaurant, what they saw, and how was it dealt with,” he said.
To reach the Yuma County Environmental Health Department call 314-4584.
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Linn E. Caroleo can be reached at lcaroleo@yumasun.com or 539-6851.