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Kam Fung Restaurant
Mekong Food Store
Good Friends Noodle & BBQ
Ottawa Flying Club
3 for 1 Pizza
Shawarma King
Hong Kong Chinese Take Out
Royal Buffet
Urban Bistro
2004 offence notices
That Luang Restaurant
Foody Goody
Lichee View Restaurant
Anna Restaurant
Tansy Buffet
14 restaurants cited for health violations
Hong Kong Chinese Take Out gets six provincial offence notices
James Gordon
The Ottawa Citizen
Thursday, July 29, 2004
Fourteen Ottawa restaurants have collected 26 tickets for health violations since 2003, for offences ranging from smoking during meal preparation to offering hazardous foods for sale.
Restaurant inspection documents obtained by the Citizen show the highest fines over the past two years went to the Shawarma King restaurant at 395 Bank St. and Hong Kong Chinese Take Out at 1-800 Hunt Club Rd., totalling $920 and $1,000, respectively.
The latter racked up six provincial offence notices. In one report, an inspector writes that chicken was being thawed on the floor and a man was smoking in the kitchen while working above food.
"Back doors propped open," the inspector also writes. "Large number of flies in premises and sitting on foods."
The Shawarma King was served with provincial offence notices for offering hazardous foods for sale at internal temperatures between 5 C and 60 C, and failing to provide a hand wash basin in the food preparation area.
Both eateries have been re-inspected and, according to the reports, the problems have been fixed.
Other restaurants fined last year were the Kam Fung Restaurant at 2679 Bank St.; Mekong Food Store at 816 Somerset St.; Good Friends Noodle & BBQ at 834 Somerset St.; the Ottawa Flying Club on Lindbergh; 3 for 1 Pizza at 2950 Bank St.; Royal Buffet at 2446 Bank St.; Urban Bistro at 87 Holland Ave.
Those ticketed so far this year are That Luang Restaurant at 1285 Wellington St.; Foody Goody at 1134 Cadboro Rd.; Lichee View Restaurant at 1499 Merivale Rd.; Anna Restaurant at 91 Holland Ave.; and Tansy Buffet at 2583 Carling Ave.
The smaller the infraction, the lesser the fine. Among the restaurants that were fined, the penalties ranged from $180 to $1,000 and some had multiple fractions.
The city's manager of environmental health, Siobhan Kearns-Shannon, said while restaurants usually comply after being fined, it takes two or three bad inspections to get to that point.
"We're big believers in education and promotion," she explained. "We've got all kinds of of different strategies we utilize, and the ticket is the last, final resort."
Ms. Kearns-Shannon argued that some restaurants used to consider the fines "just a part of doing business" when the tickets were especially insignificant prior to 2002. That doesn't seem to be the case now that the fines have been raised by the province.
The highest fine between 1998 and 2000 was $250 dollars for the infraction, "maintain hazardous foods at internal temperatures between 5 C and 60 C." By comparison, the Ottawa Flying Club got a $460 fine for the same infraction last year.
"Usually you work together [with operators] and everything complies, but sometimes no matter what you do, they just don't get it," she said.
"Generally there are no repeat offenders, and they seem to get it. That, to me, is success."
It isn't enough to satisfy former city councillor and regional community services committee chairman Alex Munter, who led a charge in 2000 to review the inspection process.
Among other suggestions, he asked staff to consider a health rating score of A, B, C, or D that would have to be posted at the entrance of every restaurant.
Mr. Munter, now a visiting professor at the University of Ottawa, said the initiative was lost in the shuffle of amalgamation and the controversial smoking bylaw, both of which consumed most of the municipality's energies.
This week, he said he would favour the city taking another look at the proposal.
"I've always believed in transparency on this issue ... it's a consumer protection question," he said. "If the city has information about these establishments' food safety records, it should be posted."
Mr. Munter also said the city could benefit by examining the Toronto system of having restaurants post a colour code corresponding to the results of their last inspection. That program was instituted in January 2001, shortly after the similar one was debated in Ottawa.
Premises there get a green rating if they pass, a yellow for a significant infraction, and a red if they have to be shut down.
"This is an area that requires investment," Mr. Munter said. "We now have more information from the Toronto system, and I'd like to see some of that data."
Ms. Kearns-Shannon said she would welcome an investment in the form of more inspectors (Ottawa has 28, compared with similarly sized and populated York region with 55), but expressed concern over a rating system.
"We're about as transparent as you get," she said of the current process, where citizens can call the public health department and request inspections be faxed to them.
"The problem with the red, green, yellow system is, in my opinion, it gives the consumer a false sense of security. You could walk in, walk out, and then the roof could cave in."
Ms. Kearns-Shannon said she was especially concerned with potential liability issues the system could create. She gave an example of someone who might choose a restaurant based on a green sign, become sick, and then blame the city.
However, according to Ron de Burger, director of Healthy Environments for the City of Toronto, those concerns are unfounded.
He said while there were high startup costs with implementing the system, that money is made up because there are fewer inspections and better compliance.
"It is certainly a more efficient program, and more than anything, it really helps maintain public confidence in the the food safety system," he said.
That city's compliance rate on first inspection stood at 30 per cent in 2000, before colour codes. Last year, after three years of experience, the compliance rate on first inspection jumped to 88.3 per cent.
Inspection results are also posted on the city's website.
Mr. de Burger added that the city looked closely at legal issues before initiation.
"We make it very clear on the site and in published information that it's the status at the time of inspection," he said. "We can't guarantee a day or week later because obviously we can't be there 24 hours a day."
Ms. Kearns-Shannon said the added bureaucracy that would come with increased signage would be too much for Ottawa's already overworked inspectors.
"We think [our way] is as good or better," she said.
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People wishing to view restaurant inspection documents can call the City of Ottawa, Public Health, at 722-2200 and request a copy.
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Why They Were Fined
2003 offence notices
Kam Fung Restaurant
- Employee fail to wash hands before resuming work
- Use equipment not free from cracks in contact with food
- Fail to protect food from contamination or adulteration
Mekong Food Store
- Operator offer ungraded eggs for sale
Good Friends Noodle & BBQ
- Use utensils not corrosion resistant in contact with food
- Fail to clear multi-service articles after use
Ottawa Flying Club
- Maintain hazardous foods at internal temperatures between
5 C and 60 C
3 for 1 Pizza
- Fail to provide soap or detergent in food preparation
- Operate food premises maintained in a manner permitting use of food handling room for sleeping
Shawarma King
- Offer for sale hazardous foods at internal temperatures between 5 C and 60 C
- Fail to provide hand wash basin in food preparation area
Hong Kong Chinese Take Out
- Maintain hazardous foods at internal temperatures between
5 Cand 60 C
- Fail to protect food from contamination or adulteration
- Fail to store food on racks or shelves
- Operator fail to ensure floor of food handling room kept clean
- Operator use of tobacco while working with food
- Operate food premise not maintained with non-absorbent floor surface where food handled
Royal Buffet
- Fail to protect food from contamination or adulteration
Urban Bistro
- Operate food premise not maintained with tight floor surface where food handled
- Use food preparation equipment
2004 offence notices
That Luang Restaurant
- Operator offer ungraded eggs for sale
Foody Goody
- Operator offer ungraded eggs for sale
Lichee View Restaurant
- Operator offer ungraded eggs for sale
Anna Restaurant
- Operator offer ungraded eggs for sale
Tansy Buffet
- Fail to protect food from contamination or adulteration
- Fail to sanitize utensils as often as necessary
© The Ottawa Citizen 2004
