New La. restaurant inspection practices to be rolled out today

The Louisiana Department of Health & Hospitals this afternoon will announce measures designed to enact “more robust, consistent” health inspections of retail food establishments statewide. The announcement comes just weeks after a Legislative Auditor’s report highlighted several problems with the way the Office of Public Health inspects restaurants. In an interview with Daily Report, Assistant Secretary J.T. Lane says the problems are largely a productivity issue. The department has been working since February to address management shortcomings by implementing a new tracking system designed to improve productivity. The system was piloted in East Baton Rouge Parish and other areas, he says, and has been yielding promising results. Staff will also be reallocated to meet demand appropriately in each region. “I don’t think we had the accurate tools to measure what the capability and productivity expectations should be for our workforce,” says Lane, who was appointed to his post this fall. “When I came in October, this was one of our chief priorities.” Lane says the pilot program in Baton Rouge has upped the number of inspections done here by 10%. The audit, which DHH requested, found that OPH issued restaurant permits to four out of 30 establishments with critical health violations, and issued only four compliance orders during the two-year period, despite identifying some 450,000 violations at restaurants around the state. What’s more, the audit notes that even though OPH has a website on which it posts restaurant inspection results, the data on the site is incomplete. To see a summary of the audit, click here; or view the report in its entirety here. —Penny Font