Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 3, 1995 TAG: 9503030097
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SHANNON D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Problems such as these almost never go unnoticed by health inspectors. The Roanoke Health Department, however, paid particular attention Wednesday to several restaurants that strive to avoid such problems.
The agency's 1994 Silver Spoon Awards went to four restaurants and food service establishments for ``demonstrating an outstanding commitment to sanitation and safe food-handling practices,'' said William Shires, Roanoke's environmental health supervisor.
DJ's Brasserie and Libby Hill Seafood tied for the award in the category of full-service restaurants, Canton Express won among short-order eateries, and Roanoke City Nursing Home got top billing for institutional food establishments.
Montano's International Gourmet Shop was named the most improved overall food establishment.
Other food establishments given recognition were Morrison's Cafeteria and Corned Beef & Company for full-service; The Eden Way Place for short-order; and Greenvale Nursery School and Raleigh Court Health Care Center for institutional food service.
DJ's was cited for the third consecutive year. The family-owned restaurant operated for 10 years at Tanglewood Mall and has been on Duke of Gloucester Street Southwest for more than six.
``You can't let up'' on something like sanitation, said Rita Poulos, dining room manager of DJ's. ``The public's health is in our hands.''
Employees at Canton Express in the Valley View Mall said they keep their restaurant clean to please customers. ``We listen to the customer,'' said Yu Ting Li, owner of the short-order restaurant. ``If anything is not right, we change.''
Laurie Williams, general manager of Libby Hill Seafood, said the company has its own sanitation inspectors who are even tougher than the city sanitarians. Libby Hill Seafood operates 17 restaurants in Virginia and North Carolina.
``Our own sanitation inspector has more time. He can come in and nitpick more than the city health inspectors,'' Williams said.
The awards were judged by environmental health specialists in Roanoke, using criteria such as the average best score for health inspections, cooperation from restaurant management, the least number of major health violations and the manager's overall concern for health standards, Shires said.
Inspectors use a 44-item checklist, with some items worth more than others. For example, the use of hair restraints by employees and their wearing clean clothes counts as one point toward the overall grade. Five points are given for meeting temperatures required for storing, preparing, displaying and transporting food.
Some problems require immediate attention, such as the presence of rodents or insects.
The top grade is 100.
Shires admits that a restaurant's grade will not always reflect its sanitary condition. A restaurant with a high score still could be asked to close until a problem is fixed.
Some restaurateurs believe grades can be good for business, particularly when they can brag of a high score.
``I would rather have it be a public issue,'' said Marty Montano, owner of Montano's International Gourmet.
The frequency of inspections depends on a restaurant's record and on how capable it is of transmitting food-borne illnesses. In the Health Department's view, restaurants that frequently serve chicken and turkey, for example, are bigger risks than those that sell hot dogs.
Restaurants with a high risk factor may be inspected six or seven times a year.
Senior Environmental Health Specialist Karen Chaples said food-service institutions with the highest risk value could be those where customers have low immunities, such as nursing homes or school cafeterias.
``We are very careful in handling food because our residents are older and a sometimes have illnesses,'' said Kathy Crawford, who has managed the cafeteria at the Roanoke City Nursing Home for 11 years. There have been no incidents of food-borne illness while she has been manager, she said.
Some of the most common problems encountered in restaurants, Chaples said, involve temperature control for food and employees' personal hygiene.
``We focus on the things that can start illness in people,'' Chaples said.
by CNB