A Thankless Job: My Experience as a Health Inspector | Episode 83

In episode 83 of Don't Eat POOP! A Food Safety Podcast, Matthew Regusci and I are looking into our very own crystal ball and diving into “The Future of Food Safety” on their Keynote at 2024 FDA Retail Food Seminar & Annual Education Conference.

We talk about what golden calves we think are going to die over the next couple decades and why they're going to die with emerging technology and increase in consumers.

As usual, we say what needs to be said regardless of how controversial, so tune in for a very insightful episode.

In this episode:

• [01:12] The origins of “Don’t Eat Poop!”
• [05:52] Matt’s and Francine’s backgrounds
• [08:10] Assessments and data management are going to change
• [08:56] Federalism is too complicated for food safety
• [12:10] Boar’s Head Listeria Outbreak: questions and lessons
• [15:15] Future of accountability in food safety
• [17:01] The possibility of getting fired for doing your job
• [20:38] Emerging technologies and the demand for food safety data
• [25:19] Kitchen robots and the challenges of inspecting them
• [28:58] Marketing that doesn’t meet the FDA Food Code
• [30:13] The need for food safety in politics
• [31:40] Being a health inspector, a thankless job

I wrote a book (Who Watches the Kitchen?: A Health Inspector Uncovers the Dirt on Her Way to Safe Food Advocacy) where I talk about the following story and more. Make sure to check it out to learn more about what I’ve experienced in my 30-plus-years in the foodservice industry.

My First Year as a Health Inspector

I know that when I was first asked to go into this jurisdiction to do this job I was excited.

The first day I got up and I was so excited. I went in to do this job and I was so positive. I had my jacket and my thermometer, everything I needed. As I went to my first stop and introduced myself they were like “I’m sorry, you have to call and schedule an appointment”.

I was like, “Excuse me?”

They said, “You have to call and schedule an appointment. You just can't show up to do the inspection.”

And I said, “No, that's not how this is going to work.”

And they said, “Well, you're not coming in.”?

And I said, “Yes, I am.” and I was trying to be really nice because I didn’t want to make enemies.

They insisted that I schedule an appointment and I told them “I'm not coming back. I'm going to do this today and I'm going to be back twice a year. So you're going to have to let me in.”?

They were like, “Well, the last inspector always scheduled an appointment.”?

And I said, “Okay. Well, that was in the past. This is how this is going to work now.” I had heels on. I'm five feet tall. I weigh 115 pounds.? I have a big attitude. I don't like to use it, but I can.?

So, she said, “Okay. Well, I don't want it to work like this.”?

I said, “I understand that. I don't either. But I'm coming back.”? So I did the inspection and I thought she was lying to me. I really thought she was lying to me.

So, I go to the next stop and they were like, “We haven't had an inspection in four years. The old inspector would just drop it off and we'd sign the paper.”

Still thinking they were lying to me, I said, “Okay. Well, that's not how I'm going to do this. I'm going to be here twice a year and I'm not going to just drop the paper off and have you sign it. I'm going to actually do the inspection.” So, I went back, did the inspection.

This went on for two weeks. People told me “The last health inspector dropped off the inspection and we signed it. We haven't had an inspection for four years.” Eventually, I realized it was true. I saw the condition of these kitchens, there were cockroaches, rat infestations. I can't tell you how bad it was.

In my first year, I closed 20% of the restaurants and I was not proud of that.

It was hard. It's hard to shut down a restaurant. There's a lot of paperwork and then you're doubling your workload. You have to go back and you have to reinspect, reopen. We are making enemies all over the place. That is not what I wanted to do.

Let me tell you, everybody in that small town hated me. It's how I ended up in front of City Council (to hear more about this story tune into Episode 53 | Good Job! You’re Fired. Food Safety: The Industry You Can Lose Your Job by Doing It Too Well).

A Really Tough Day

One of my worst days ever was when I had to shut down a Chinese restaurant.?

I spent probably eight hours in there and when I closed a restaurant, I didn't just shut it down. I spent the time in there explaining what was wrong, how we correct it, and how we keep it from happening again. Because I truly care about these people.

Some would think they do this stuff intentionally, but you don't know what you don't know. And, in their case, if nobody's done your inspection for four years they really wouldn’t have known.

It was a cockroach infestation. There was cross contamination. There was stuff dripping out of the hood that was like thick, heavy oil onto the food that they were serving. Let's not talk about temperature abuse, or and the things that were in the walk in cooler.

So, as we locked the doors, there was somebody eating lunch, and I had on a white jacket and clipboard, they looked at me and asked “Can we finish eating? Is it okay?” And I was thinking, “God! You don't want to!”, but I said “Sure. Go ahead.”

The biggest issue was that those people didn't speak English, so it was very hard to communicate with them. So, as I closed the restaurant the kids came in from school, they were seven and nine years old, and they had to translate to their parents what I was saying.

That was one of the most intense, difficult days of my career because the kids were struggling because what they were saying was disrespectful to their parents because of their culture. I was being as polite as I possibly could, but they had to tell their parents what I was saying and that they had to close and my God, it was hard.

That day is the only day that I ever walked out to my car, sat there and cried. It was tough.

We'd love to hear from you!

Connect with Francine, Matt, and the "Don't Eat Poop!" podcast on LinkedIn!?

Share your thoughts and feedback on the show and feel free to offer any topics you would like to hear discussed.

?? Check out Francine's book Who Watches the Kitchen? on Amazon!