Health Inspectors Raise Their Standards?

A popular coffee shop, Coffee Shop, had been in business for 17 years until they failed their city health inspection. Earlier in the month of March the owners of the Coffee shop were cited with a number of violations that according to them would have only earned them a slap on the wrist before the release of the KFC/Taco Bell rat video.

On February 23, 2007 rats were video taped inside a closed KFC/Taco Bell restaurant. The tape was plastered all over the internet and aired on many news stations. The restaurant was closed as soon as the taped was viewed by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Many restaurant owners instantly knew this would mean trouble for anyone in the food service. With in the first two weeks of the video airing 94 restaurants were shut down. The first week of March left 67 restaurants closed. Both March of 2005 and March of 2006 combined closed only 60 restaurants.

Why it appears that the overall standards have been raised since the video, a department spokesperson reported that nothing had changed after the video was released. "Our inspectors have always been instructed to cite what they see," said Andrew Tucker "It's certainly possible, given the heightened attention, that our inspectors may be more careful, but the point is these are documented violations of the health code."

Still many restaurant owners who have been closed since February 23 can't help but feel like victims. Another spokesperson for the department noted "Obviously restaurant owners aren't pleased that they're being closed," said Sara Markt "But there is actually a fairly significant process of review, where the inspector calls back and speaks to their supervisor based on the seriousness of the health violations. Our concern when we walk out the door is whether someone could get sick if they ate there."