Health Department releases food inspection reports for week of Feb. 16

During the week of Feb. 16, the Jefferson County Health Department inspected 23 food establishments.

Scores ranged from 78 to 100. Some were routine inspections while others were reinspections. All inspections are unannounced visits.

According to the Jefferson County Health Department, facilities start with a score of 100, and points are reduced based on observed violations:

■ Six points are deducted for priority violations that directly contribute to foodborne illness risk.

■ Three points are deducted for priority foundation violations that indirectly contribute to foodborne illness risk or enable priority violations.

■ One point for core violations related to general sanitation and good retail practices.

■ Two points for repeat violations of any type.

Dan Kane, environmental supervisor for the Health Department, said the agency does not have ranges for good or bad scores but instead looks at the overall score, adding that readers need to look at the types of violations.

He said a couple of priority violations are more concerning than several core violations.

“Because violations are point-based and in different categories, it’s hard to say that a specific number score is considered good or bad because there are various ways to equal that number,” said Brianne Zwiener, communications director for the Health Department. “For example, you could have one violation worth six points or six smaller violations worth one point. Though they may each have 94 as a score, different circumstances led to that, so a standard good/bad threshold doesn’t apply.”

In certain cases, the Health Department returns to a food establishment to reinspect, allowing time for the facility to correct issues. According to the Health Department, reinspection is not solely based on the score an establishment gets; it’s determined by the type of violation. Priority and priority foundation violations need to be corrected within a certain amount of time, and priority violations typically are corrected on the day of the inspection before the inspector leaves.

Kane said the department rarely closes a food establishment.

“It’s quite a process to go through to close a facility,” he said. “Our process is an inspector would have to feel there’s an imminent health hazard, and then they call a team leader who is a more experienced inspector and then if that inspector also feels (the business) should be closed down, they would call me and I would have them explain the situation, and I would ask my boss, (community services manager) Jeana Vidacak, and usually we have a meeting between me, her and (Executive Director) Steve Sikes just to talk it over.”

Most temporary closures involve a power outage, fire or sewage backup.

To see the most updated inspection report or the last three inspection reports, visit jeffcohealth.org/environmental and click on “View Food Establishment Health Inspection Scores.”

The inspection scores for the week of Feb. 16 are listed below: