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  • Health inspectors

    Just a small gripe, really.

    In Toronto we have a program where public health inspectors have to check out your restaurant two or three times a year, and determine whether you're following the rules for food safety and cleanliness of the venue. The restaurant gets a pass, fail or conditional pass rating and it's posted in the window. Green means pass, yellow means it can stay open but something has to be fixed, and red means the restaurant is closed until the problem is solved.

    We had our inspection yesterday before I got to work. Boss was not happy, even though the poster is still green.

    He's said to me in the past that the inspectors are not allowed to give a place a 100% perfect score, so even if nothing is wrong they have to make something up. Yesterday they told him he has to have a sink with two compartments rather than just one. He's been there thirteen years with the same sink and nobody ever had a problem with the sink. Now they're telling him it has to be replaced. Oh, and it has to be done in the next six months. So it's not a conditional pass where this is vital enough that it needs to be fixed now, he just has to have it fixed by the time of the next regular inspection. After thirteen years he has six months to do it. Seems fishy, and fits with his claim that they aren't allowed to give 100% scores.

    He also said once that there used to be a Chinese inspector on the job, and she scored his restaurant better than the white inspectors, who would nitpick every tiny little thing. He suspects that they're playing off the Chinatown stereotype of filthy roach-filled restaurants because he's Chinese, even though he's not in Chinatown. I did not have the courage to ask him whether yesterday's inspector was Chinese or white.

  • #2
    Is there any course of action he can take?

    More importantly... can they cite the code that requires a double sink vs a single one?


    I ask because, "no one said anything before" doesn't mean they can't ever say it. In fact it's also possible the previous examiner was ignoring a violation, or didn't know it wasn't allowed.

    However with something like that, one would think that they should be able to refer to the actual health code for proof to back up their marks.


    If there is no such proof, then he can he fight it at the local board of health? (unsure if it's called the same in Canada, but the local equivalent etc)

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    • #3
      It's probably bogus but I wonder if maybe the two sinks are required so there is one for washing and one for rinsing? I know it's a reach
      https://www.youtube.com/user/HedgeTV
      Great YouTube channel check it out!

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      • #4
        it could be for cross-contamination rules, but it would be cited in the local laws i would think

        Comment


        • #5
          Well... it does look like a two or three compartment sink is required. No idea if the regulations have changed over the years though.

          http://wx.toronto.ca/inter/health/food.nsf/0dad47ac378eabca85256dcd0059fa59/4D136D2D3F88CAD9852577310063F24A/$file/Commercial%20Kitchen%20Requirements%20%28TPH%20foo d%20safety%29.pdf

          and

          http://www.toronto.ca/health/foodhan..._section04.pdf
          There's no such thing as a stupid question... just stupid people.

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          • #6
            I know 2 or 3 compartment sinks are at least recommended and may be required, that way you can clean, rinse and sanatize

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            • #7
              It's weird, because we have a sanitizer. (Looks like a dishwasher, uses heat instead of soap.) I'll pick up a dirty dish, wash it with a soapy scratchy sponge, and rinse it and put it directly in the sanitizer. When the sanitizer is full we run it, and the dishes go from the sanitizer straight to the stacks where they wait to get food put on them. I'm not entirely clear on the reason for using a double sink.

              Comment


              • #8
                Quoth Flying Grype View Post
                It's weird, because we have a sanitizer. (Looks like a dishwasher, uses heat instead of soap.) I'll pick up a dirty dish, wash it with a soapy scratchy sponge, and rinse it and put it directly in the sanitizer. When the sanitizer is full we run it, and the dishes go from the sanitizer straight to the stacks where they wait to get food put on them. I'm not entirely clear on the reason for using a double sink.
                Well, it'll let you use the wash/rinse method when the sanitizer is broken...

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