Most restaurant inspections now posted on the Web

Are you intrigued but a little worried about that hole-in-the wall sandwich shop next to the vacant lot? Or perhaps you're wondering whether the fancy new restaurant in the strip mall has mouse droppings hidden beneath the glitz?

Most food establishments don't publicize even their most positive inspection reports, and no government in the Philadelphia region requires that they be tacked up for easy viewing like a menu.

But more are going online. With the new Camden County database that went live Thursday night, the outcome of inspections are now posted for the vast majority of restaurants in the eight-county region.

Philadelphia and Bucks, Montgomery and Camden Counties post the actual inspection reports - complete with comments and compliance for dozens of categories - in searchable databases that often contain previous inspections and explanations of the findings.

"Who doesn't want to know what their children's cafeteria looks like?" said Carmen G. Rodriguez, the freeholder liaison to the Health Department in Camden County, whose new Web site, like those in the other counties, includes schools.

Still, interpreting the regulatory language of inspection reports for what patrons really want to ask - Is this a safe place to eat? - takes time and patience.

"Cross-contamination and hand-washing violations and temperatures," thorough cooking, hot foods kept hot and cold foods kept cold - these are the most important risk factors for food-borne illness, said Ben Chapman, a food-safety specialist at North Carolina State University. Dirty bathrooms matter less.

Chapman, who reviewed the new Camden County Web site at The Inquirer's request, was impressed that the posted reports include the temperatures of various foods found by the inspector - along with the inspector's comments, which are necessary to make sense of the numbers.

Here is an inspector's report, written six weeks ago, in giving a conditionally satisfactory rating to Plaza Pizza & Sub Shop in Cherry Hill: "Potentially hazardous food stored in the saute station bain marie was not maintained at refrigeration temperatures below 41F. Observed provolone cheese at 48F, peppers 49F, sliced mushroom 48F, sauteed onions at 49F, and vegetables 48F. The contents of this cold holding unit were moved to the main reach-in refrigerator."

Owner Moises Garcia Lopez said Thursday that the violations had been fixed and that he was awaiting a reinspection, which he expected to yield a satisfactory rating.

Camden County, which delayed making its site public until 75 percent of its 3,500 food establishments had been inspected at least once, is the first in New Jersey to post full reports online, said Ralph Green, the county's director of environmental health.

Burlington and Gloucester Counties post only the inspection status - satisfactory, conditionally satisfactory, unsatisfactory - in one-line listings.

Across the river, every county is different. Full reports are posted by Philadelphia and Bucks County - they highlight critical violations in red - and by Montgomery County, which helpfully offers Google maps. (Camden County will send an e-mail when a requested restaurant or cafeteria is inspected.)

Chester County does not post actual reports but provides detailed highlights online - and a score of 1 to 100.

In Delaware County, which lacks a central health department, 40 municipalities conduct their own inspections, and few post them. The other nine municipalities are handled by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, which posts full reports in its searchable database. (The state site also includes wholesalers, processors, distributors and retail food stores that sell pre-packaged food in every county.)

It is unclear how much the public uses online reports.

Bucks County, which has posted full reports since 2008, tallied 463 visitors to its database between March 31 and Wednesday. Demand is often high initially and then tapers off, said Doug Powell, an associate professor of food safety at Kansas State University who operates BarfBlog, which, despite its name, is a blog written mostly by academics.

Because of the hodgepodge of regulations and the complexity of the reports, Powell said, it is far more useful to place highly visible, simple letter or color grades at the restaurant location. A-B-C grades are used in Los Angeles and will begin in New York City in July.

"My experience when I was in Toronto, and they developed the red-yellow-green [grading system], was 'Wow, people really talked about this stuff,'" Powell said.

But for now, Web access will have to suffice. Nothing comparable, officials said, is being considered anywhere in the Philadelphia region.