Public Opinion, April 23

Our view: Restaurant inspections should be public

By Kathy Leedy, on behalf of Public Opinion's editorial board

Pennsylvania's auditor general issued a report critical of the state's restaurant inspection process nearly two years ago, and he pledges to revisit the issue again later this year. Auditor General Jack Wagner believes restaurants should be inspected more frequently than they are, and he believes the results of those inspections should be public.

So do we.

Chambersburg Borough Council has refused to release the results of restaurant inspections in the borough, however. Council decided the public doesn't have a right to know the detailed results of inspections, only whether restaurants have passed. That becomes public knowledge if the inspection approval is posted on the premises.

Some council members reached this conclusion after restaurant owners met with them to air their concerns about the public release of information. Council said detailed information about restaurants in the borough shouldn't be public because the state doesn't release specific information about inspections of restaurants in nearby townships.

Wagner, who met recently with Public Opinion's editorial board, said restaurant inspections should be public -- whether they are done by the state or municipalities.

"Transparency is absolutely necessary ... for the sake of public safety," Wagner said. "It is the job of the Department of Agriculture (which performs most restaurant inspections in Pennsylvania) to make that happen. There is no excuse not to publish this information," Wagner said.

In addition, two years after the release of a special performance audit, there is no public hotline for people to call if they have concerns about restaurant safety, or a central database where people can get information -- two of the recommendations of the audit released in November 2005.

While most restaurants in the state meet safety standards and pass inspections easily, it's also true that some go years without being inspected, according to the earlier audit.

"We were not happy with what we found," Wagner said.

Nearly one-fourth of the state's 17,597 restaurants, bars, clubs and retail stores that serve food and drinks received license renewals even though they had not been inspected by the state for two years or more. One eatery had not been inspected for six years.

State law requires restaurants to be inspected before a license is issued or renewed. Some were not inspected even though violations had been found in the previous review.

After the audit, the Department of Agriculture pledged to be more efficient and to improve record-keeping.

Wagner had a pledge of his own to Public Opinion.

"We're not going away here," he said. "The public has a right to know."

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