City health inspector Rick Messa takes notes during a restaurant inspection last year in St. Joseph.
Health records for St. Joseph’s largest Chinese buffet speak dread: an allegation the owner tried to bribe an inspector, rats in the kitchen, cross-contaminated foods in the cooler, dirty utensils in the dining room, an entire buffet at an unsafe temperature.
The St. Joseph-Buchanan County Health Department file is fat. There have been about 40 surprise inspections in the last three years. But on Friday afternoon, its numerous health code violations didn’t seem to faze a steady stream of patrons walking into New Super China Buffet, 617 N. Belt Highway.
Kenneth and Monica Martinez walked out shortly before noon. They have eaten at the buffet at least three times each month since it opened five years ago. They had no idea about health violations.
“I get all the local channels, get the newspaper, and you would think that if there were that many violations, surely it would have been on the news at some point,” said Mr. Martinez. “There’s got to be a better way to letting the consumer know that there’s a problem.”
Health officials say there is: three tablet laptops that could post results onto the Web within seconds of daily surprise health inspections to St. Joseph’s nearly 300 food establishments. The notebooks cost about $3,000 apiece. They would replace the traditional pen-and-paper approach.
But with city sales tax revenue down in the past year, digitizing is a challenge. It may further be exacerbated by the announcement Tuesday that Buchanan County will soon end a $135,000 annual contract with the Health Department.
Digitizing health records would cater to an increasingly Web-savvy public and make inspectors better at their job by putting each restaurant’s history at their fingertips, said Rick Messa, a city health inspector who has pushed for the laptops for more than six years.
“The public could make better choices of where to eat and even the places to avoid,” Mr. Messa said.
The Kansas City Health Department has been online since 2007 and gets a steady stream of Web viewers that spikes when a media report comes out about severe health violations at an establishment, said Naser Jouhari, a field health supervisor.
Health officials also say their own inspection Web site would give a public incentive to improve for restaurants with a history of health violations. One example is La Mesa Mexican Restaurant, 3730 Mitchell Ave. Last year, it was in danger of closing when inspections revealed structural problems in its building that caused food safety concerns. But inspectors found no critical violations in April.
For New Super China Buffet, its new owners say they’ve made improvements in the last year that they are optimistic will continue. Mr. Martinez, the frequent patron, says he’s not certain about visiting it in the future.
“It won’t be as often now, I believe,” he said, turning to his wife, Monica. “We’ll have to go home and discuss this.”
Ahmad Safi can be reached
at ahmadsafi@npgco.com.
A story on restaurant inspections on Page A1 of Saturday’s News-Press needs clarification. The new owners of New Super China Buffet bought the restaurant in April 2008, which was after some of the violations in the story occurred.
It is the policy of the News-Press to correct all errors as quickly as possible. To request a correction, call the City Desk at 271-8548 or 271-8533.