When Anthony Morales puts on his El Paso County badge and readies his stack of forms for restaurant visits, enforcing food and cleanliness standards is a calling that impacts consumers everywhere.
The sanitary services manager has seen failures and successes in the Borderland’s food service industry during nine years in the role.
Each week, inspectors average visiting 150 locations. They prioritize businesses that weren’t recently inspected or the subject of customer complaints.
Currently, 14 inspectors conduct three to five inspections per day. On average, a routine inspection lasts between 45 minutes and two plus hours, depending on the type of establishment.
El Paso County has approximately 4,641 fixed food establishments, although code enforcement inspects all locations that sell food items, whether they are fresh or prepackaged.
“We review the area list to see which establishments are due for inspection,” Morales said. “Based on the date of the last visit, we focus on places that need attention or have received complaints. Often, we return to businesses where we’ve already flagged issues that still need to be addressed.”
What are some common restaurant inspection violations?
With a close eye on food storage and food preparation areas, common issues such as dirty food contact spots and improper temperatures in storage will be flagged every time.
“For those businesses that consistently do well on their inspections, we tell them what great processes they have in place that gets them those scores,” Morales said. “Those businesses lacking in some areas, we ask them to walk us through their food preparation and food storage process. Many times, they don’t know they’re doing something incorrectly.”
The intricacies of a clean kitchen and refrigerator area are just the beginning when it comes to compliance. Having hot and cold water readily available, having a bathroom an acceptable distance from the kitchen and enforcing hand washing are all part of the numerous regulations.
Discussions with business owners about the usual pitfalls in the kitchen could be the difference between establishing good habits and being a consistent trouble spot.
“Throughout my entire tenure, I’ve been most surprised by how a strong manager can impact a business,” Morales said. “A committed manager can set the tone for the whole staff, and they know all the processes from top to bottom. Their training for new employees is fantastic and the businesses that regularly perform very highly have that.”
Filed inspection reports are public information, including scores from establishments. The El Paso Times publishes inspections weekly.
“Health inspection scores can be a helpful tool for consumers, but it’s just a snapshot of the business in that moment,” Morales said. “Most restaurants are committed to safety, and we’re there to help them get to the standards they expect. When an inspector is there, the manager is usually with them and fixing things on site if there’s an issue.”
Points deducted from a score cannot be returned, and failing scores can be rectified on the same day; yet, what remains are the lessons that make a restaurant thrive.
A career spent looking behind the kitchen doors of El Paso’s growing number of eateries has not dampened Morales’ faith in the city’s food scene.
“I know what’s going on behind the curtain, but it hasn’t really affected me because restaurants are striving to do better as a whole. Whatever I’m in the mood for is where I’ll go eat,” Morales said.
Kristian Jaime is the Top Story Reporter for the El Paso Times and is reachable at Kjaime@elpasotimes.com.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: What you don’t see: Health inspector’s daily battle for safe dining in El Paso
Reporting by Kristian Jaime, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
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