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Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Terry Rindfleisch: Food inspections now in the public eye

For several years, many La Crosse area residents have asked us about publishing data on food inspections.

They had traveled to other cities and saw inspection stories in newspapers, inspection reports on health department Web sites and even grading systems for restaurants and food places.

They really thought the information would be useful. We did, too.

But it wasn’t until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified five major risk factors responsible for 95 percent of foodborne illness that the La Crosse County Health Department thought they had a good way to present important data.

The five major risk factors are: Unsafe sources, inadequate cooking, improper holding temperature, cross-contamination and personal hygiene.

The health department started tracking those major risk factors in September 2005. It didn’t have the resources like the Milwaukee County Health Department to create a food inspections Web site. It barely has enough resources to fund three inspectors who also check out wells, swimming pools, radon, etc.

So we started to look at how we could present this public data in a relevant and meaningful form. At the same time, I started to learn everything I could about food inspections.

After almost three years of work, the Tribune started publishing food inspection data for restaurants and food places in La Crosse County online. Find it under Hot Links at www.lacrossetribune.com or go directly to the violations at www.lacrosse tribune.com/restest.php.

Data can be checked on restaurants, bars, schools, grocery and convenience stores and other places that serve food for total violations and the number of the five major risk factor violations.

Online users can check a guide that explains the major risk factor violations. Users can search for details on an individual establishment or call up the number of total violations.

You’ll only see the unannounced inspections, usually done once a year. A restaurant or food place with many violations often has a few announced inspections to correct violations.

The data will be updated online every month, and the Tribune periodically will report on food inspections.

A few people would prefer that you don’t have this information, but it is public record for one reason — to make sure restaurants and food places are accountable to the public.

We feel a duty to make this information available to our readers. It is your responsibility to use the information wisely.

I probably won’t stop going to my favorite restaurants because of one bad inspection. I may use the information to ask the manager about the violations. But bad inspection after bad inspection may be a different story, and you’ll see that story unfold.

Our intent and hope is everyone pays more attention to health violations and food safety. After all, it is in our best interest.