Restaurant Health Inspections: What You Can Learn Before Dining Out in Greater Lynchburg

Planning your next night out at a Lynchburg restaurant? The first steps typically include agreeing on which restaurant to go to, making reservations, perusing the menu online, and checking Yelp or other review sites. However, checking the restaurant's inspection status online most likely is not one of those steps. Should it be?

The health department provides information that allows you to read online about a restaurant’s health inspection status, like checking online reviews. Admittedly, it has not been my routine to do a last-minute check on the most recent inspection before heading to a restaurant. Some homes I know of that view food expiration dates inside their refrigerator as merely a suggestion may have something to do with that. After reviewing some of the inspection reports, though, I appreciate the health department providing this resource and will occasionally use it going forward. That said, there are multiple factors to consider when reading a report. In some cases, certain violations are noted that clearly show issues, while in others, it is important not to overreact to certain violations.

Before going to a restaurant, you have the choice to take a moment to check if your chosen spot’s recent health inspection ensures confidence in its hygiene. If you choose to take these moments, this story will help you navigate through My Health Department - Central Virginia when viewing restaurant inspections.

What Are Health Inspectors Evaluating?

The Virginia Department of Health deploys Environmental Health Specialists to inspect the estimated 31,000 food establishments around the commonwealth – food trucks, fast food, fine dining restaurants, school cafeterias, hospitals, and day cares. Each establishment is inspected at least once a year and depending upon prior inspections some are inspected more than once. There are approximately one hundred inspections monthly in the Central Virginia Health District which encompasses an area slightly larger than Greater Lynchburg. Inspectors look at food storage, expiration dates, cooking and reheating practices, equipment cleanliness, and employee hygiene practices.

Understanding Inspection Reports

The type of inspection is listed in the report – routine, follow-up, pre-opening, and risk factor to name a few. You can navigate into the restaurant inspection report for all the details on how their inspection went, ranging from no inspections to what violations were corrected on-site (COS), and what violations are still outstanding. A Follow-up inspection is one done to check on the progress of required correction or to confirm that the item has been corrected. All violations must be corrected within a certain period depending on the category of the violation.

Virginia uses the Food and Drug Administration’s Model Food Code to rank violations. Priority violations are the most serious and most likely to contribute to a foodborne illness if violated, such as not cooking meat thoroughly or cooks not washing their hands. Priority foundation violations might contribute to a priority violation, such as lack of training, record-keeping, or date marking. Core violations include general cleanliness issues, poor equipment design, or structural problems in the building.

The numbers on the report coincide with violation checks that are done by inspectors, with numbers 1 through 29 covering violations related to risk factors for foodborne illness and managerial control of those risk factors, like those listed above. Items 30 through 56 on the inspection report are referred to as "Good Retail Practices" and they support foodborne illness prevention and are not likely to directly cause an illness—for example, cleanliness of non-food contact surfaces.

Although the category of a violation is not spelled out in the report one way to gauge which category a violation falls into, you can also look at the time needed for correction:

·               Priority items must be corrected within 72 hours or 3 days

·               Priority foundation items must be corrected with 10 days

·               Core items must be corrected within 90 days for by the next inspection        (core items may not have a correct by time listed)

All Violations are Not the Same

A restaurant with violations is not necessarily a bad place to eat, as violations are common. It is important though to look at the types of violations, how many have been repeated, and past reports (also on the site) If an establishment continues to store food improperly or has an excessively dirty kitchen, you might want to steer clear. If an establishment has typically a few non severe violations, then all should be fine. If an establishment has a record of consistently good inspection reports, thank the folks in charge of running a clean ship and “don’t forget to tip your waitstaff.”

Although health department inspectors follow standardized protocols to ensure consistency, each inspector and each restaurant are uniquely different. A local restauranteur mentioned that our home kitchens have violations for items that most of us would not realize were violations. On the other hand, there are many significant violations that we would not tolerate in our household kitchens and that need to be watched carefully.

You can learn more about how to search and read reports around Virginia here. But for now, let us get into the inspections here in Central Virginia.

Health Inspections in Greater Lynchburg

The health department has published inspections for approximately five hundred Lynchburg-area food service establishments so far this year. You will see familiar spots like your favorites among hundreds of others. No establishment is exempt from these inspections, including your favorite restaurants, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, childcare centers, and food trucks.

Since January around half of the restaurants inspected in the Central Virginia Health District had some kind of violation marked down; again, the category of the violation is the key issue. The violations could be particularly important or not so much.

Looking closer at the month-to-date data for May, fifty-seven inspections were conducted. Among these:

• Seven establishments had zero violations: Beacon Pub, Boonsboro Country Club, Cousin Boogy’s, Dunkin, Elite Fitness 247, Liberty Ridge Memory Care, and Ma D’s Food Truck.
• Eight establishments had one violation.
• Eight establishments had two violations.
• The remaining thirty-four establishments had three or more violations.

On the higher end of the spectrum, Taste of Italy had nine violations, and Papa Gallo had eight violations.

Additionally, nine establishments underwent Follow-Up inspections from a recent inspection, and nine establishments had either Other or Pre-Opening inspections.

The list of each inspection this month through May 10^th is listed below:

Impressions from Recent Health Inspection Reports

In reviewing inspection reports from January onward, several reports stand out in multiple ways. There are establishments whose starry reports make you feel like a proud patron. There are establishments with multiple violations that had a prior great inspection record until recent circumstances ranging from new ownership, key turnover, and other circumstances found them stepping backwards. And some you will read may leave you shaking your head in disbelief.

You can read inspection reports about establishments with zero to few violations, inspections where the restauranteur and the inspector had a collaborative discussion, and establishments with a consistently stellar history of past reports (available on the site).

You can read about a market in Rustburg with nine violations, seven of which were repeat violations, a follow-up inspection about ten days later showed that most of the issues were resolved.

And then you will read about an establishment in Appomatox that stood out with twelve violations.

The establishments with zero to few violations left a strong, positive impression, while those with understandable setbacks due to recent changes also garnered consideration, and then some reports were quite concerning. Let’s just say that food expiration dates in my refrigerator are viewed as more than just a suggestion—and am happy to patronize those proud establishments who look out for their customers’ well-being.

Don't forget that you have a helpful choice to do a little homework before you make that reservation!

Lynchburg Agenda will be covering health reports for Lynchburg-area establishments on a regular basis.