Restaurant Inspections: Area food safety violations rise

BY CURTIS KILLMAN World Staff Writer
Sunday, March 09, 2008
3/10/08 at 9:18 AM

Search: Search restaurant inspections recorded from 2004-2007 by the Tulsa City-County Health Department.

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Failing grades given to Tulsa County eateries increased 50 percent in 2007.

More restaurants and other places that serve food are failing food safety inspections, a Tulsa World review of government data indicates.

Health inspectors flunked 235 Tulsa County food establishments during 2007. That's a 50 percent increase over the previous year, when 154 flunking grades were handed out to eateries.

In all, nearly 5 percent of all inspections conducted in Tulsa County among three major categories of the food service industry resulted in failing marks.

One restaurant tallied 31 violations during a food safety inspection in 2007. That restaurant, The Rice Bowl Cafe at 4307 S. Sheridan Road, has flunked three inspections since 2004. The business was voluntarily closed after one inspection in 2005. It wasn't the only Tulsa County business to temporarily close during 2007 because of food safety issues.

Thirty-one businesses voluntarily closed temporarily in 2007 following unfavorable health inspections by the Tulsa City-County Health Department, records show.

Health department officials say they are not sure why the number of closings increased.

"Why it would jump up so high -- better supervision, better training -- I don't know," said Elizabeth Nutt, director of the local health department's Consumer Protection Environmental Health Services Division. Nutt said she was surprised at the increase in closures, given that the department was "somewhat short staffed" during 2007.

Other possible reasons for the increase in closures and failed inspections:

The recent retirement of many long-term Tulsa City-County Health Department inspectors.
An increase in the number of restaurants that require stricter oversight because of the food they serve.

A business can flunk a food safety inspection three different ways: receiving three or more "super critical" violations, tallying seven or more critical and/or super critical violations, or a combination of four or more critical violations and 10 noncritical violations.

Super critical violations are the top causes of foodborne illness.

There are 51 types of violations in all, including 21 classified as critical and nine classified as super critical.

The increase in closures coincides with an increase in the average number of total violations given per inspection. In 2006, restaurants averaged 6.0 violations per inspection compared with 6.7 violations in 2007.

Restaurants also experienced slight increases in the number of super critical and critical violations from 2006 to 2007.

Health Department workers conducted 4,875 and 4,958 routine and complaint-based inspections during 2006 and 2007, respectively, among establishments classified as food service, food service with a bar and combined retail facilities.

Among those receiving multiple violations was Duffy's of Bixby, 12908 S. Memorial Drive. The eatery averaged 1.7 super critical violations per inspection over the course of 11 routine and complaint-driven inspections conducted since 2006.

The business voluntarily closed in July after an unfavorable inspection. The eatery saw its license suspended in August after an inspection that was triggered by a complaint.

But all of that is old news to Somar Al-Chammat, who recently acquired the business from a relative.

"I just bought it three months ago and now it's all different," Al-Chammat said.

"We've been remodeling and working on the place to make it look better and show the customers that it is different now," Al-Chammat said.

"They gave me a new license," Al-Chammat said, referring to the City-County Health Department. "No problems at all."

He said he has taken out ads in the local paper, notifying the public that the restaurant is under new ownership.

"Business has been picking up, so that tells me that people are satisfied," Al-Chammat said.

This is the first restaurant to be owned by Al-Chammat, who said he likes his new venture.

"I don't like to work for anybody," Al-Chammat said. "I want to be my own boss."

Inspection issues cut across eateries both big and small.

The Cedar Ridge Country Club, 10302 S. Garnett Road, averaged 13.6 violations over the course of the 16 times it was inspected since 2004, ranking it among the more frequently cited facilities over the past four years. Twice the club failed inspections in 2007, records show.

But Clive Stubblefield, gen eral manager of the facility, said operations and personnel have changed drastically in recent months.

Stubblefield said the new chef is a health department-certified food service manager and a "safe serve" certified manager through a chef association.

"And I think if you look you won't even see that we've had any critical violations," Stubblefield said, referring to the most recent inspection.

Indeed, the facility received just seven violations -- all noncritical -- in its last inspection in October.

"We work hand in hand with them because our member safety is our No. 1 concern," Stubblefield said, referring to inspectors.

"Unfortunately for your readers they are going to sit there and read this and say 'Oh, my God, what's going on?' but in the real world, they don't understand that a Styrofoam cup sitting in the wrong place is a critical violation," Stubblefield said.

Conversely, inspectors handed out 108 perfect scores among the nearly 5,000 inspections conducted in 2007.

Two restaurants, Prime Time Pizza at 109 N. Elm in Jenks and Eddy's Steakhouse at 3510 E. 31st St., rank No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, among restaurants in terms of the fewest average number of critical and super critical violations since 2004.

Prime Time Pizza, a takeout only business, received no critical or super critical violations during 10 inspections dating back to 2004.

Manager David Powers said the restaurant has been in business for seven years and has always fared well on inspections.

"We've never had a critical, ever, here," Powers said.

At its most recent inspection, the eatery was written up because the fan guards were dirty in the cooler, Powers said. They cleaned them that day.

Eddy Elias, owner of Eddy's Steakhouse, said he and his four employees make food safety a priority.

"We watch it very carefully every day," Elias said.

In the past four years, Eddy's has never had more than four violations during an inspection and it has received only one super critical violation.

Elias credits having a staff that has been with him for decades as a key factor in knowing how to maintain good food safety.

The increase in violations may be a reflection of a widespread change in how restaurants operate.

"More restaurants are either switching, or being built new as facilities, whose operations require at least four inspections per year," the most intense inspection schedule, said Clyde Harding, Food Program Manager with the Tulsa Health Department.

As the inspectors have gotten busier, Harding said, Health Department officials find they have less time to educate restaurant employees on food safety, Harding said.

Mexican and Asian restaurants both were cited at higher-than-average rates, a World analysis of inspection data indicates.

Mexican restaurants experienced an average of eight violations from 2004 through 2007, tops among the various types of restaurants. Asian restaurants averaged 7.3 violations during the same time period.

The higher-than-average violation rate may be because most Mexican and Asian restaurants are classified as high-risk facilities because of the nature of their operations.

The more heating and cooling of food that goes on in a restaurant, "the more you tend to have violations," Harding said.

Fast-food restaurants, meanwhile, had an average number of 6.3 violations per inspection, over the four-year period, a rate just slightly below the overall average of 6.5 violations.

Nutt said it makes sense that businesses classified as high risk are being cited more often.

"There's really more opportunity for things to go wrong because they are more complex operations," Nutt said.

Curtis Killman 581-8471
curtis.killman@tulsaworld.com

By the numbers

In 2006, restaurants averaged 6.0 violations per inspection compared with 6.7 violations in 2007.

Health Department workers conducted 4,875 and 4,958 routine and complaintbased inspections during 2006 and 2007, respectively.

Thirty-one businesses voluntarily closed temporarily in 2007 following unfavorable health inspections.

Inspectors handed out 108 perfect scores among the nearly 5,000 inspections conducted in 2007.

Source: Tulsa City-County Health Department

Associated Images:

Steve Elias dishes up tabouli in the kitchen at Eddy’s Steakhouse, 3510 E. 31st St. The restaurant is among the top restaurants in Tulsa County in terms of the fewest violations during inspections since 2004.