The holidays are a favorite time to order take-out or eat at a restaurant. How do you know how sanitary a restaurant is before you order?
One reader asked Curious Texas: “Why don’t Texas restaurants have to post city health department inspections? It would be helpful.” he wrote. “We were shocked when we read the one on our (formerly) favorite Chinese takeout place. Is that up to the state or cities?”
Here’s some background, and the answer.
How are restaurant safety standards set in Texas?
Curious Texas
The Texas Department of State Health Services sets the minimum standards for food safety in Texas. Cities with active charters can enforce rules that go beyond the minimum standards.
What do restaurant inspectors look for?
Inspectors look for cleanliness and food safety. That means checking food prep tools, water, plumbing and waste disposal, and refrigeration. Staff also must be handling food and beverages in a sanitary manner.
Who is in charge of the inspections?
It depends where the restaurant is located. Many cities do their own. Restaurants in Dallas, for example, are inspected by the city’s Department of Code Compliance. Dallas County’s environmental health division conducts inspections for some cities, including Lancaster, Balch Springs and the Park Cities.
How often are restaurants inspected?
State law leaves that up to inspection authorities, instructing them to consider the restaurant’s past performance and potential for causing food-borne illness. Many cities, including Dallas, generally inspect restaurants every six months.
Why aren’t restaurant inspection results posted in windows?
Nothing in state law prevents a city from requiring that inspection results be posted in a restaurant window. But it’s not required.
The city of Dallas does not currently require food establishments to post inspection results in their windows, but “continually evaluates options to increase public transparency,” city spokesman Nick Starling told The News recently.
If you’re curious about a restaurant’s inspection results, who do you ask?
Under state law, restaurants have to provide customers with the most recent inspection report upon request.
Inspection reports for Dallas restaurants can also be found online at https://inspections.myhealthdepartment.com/dallas the same day the inspection occurs. You can also look up inspections of commercial prep kitchens, museums and grocery stores, as well as cafeterias at schools, hospitals and country clubs.
The city is developing a new, more modern site to look up inspections, according to Starling, but right now, there’s no estimated completion date.