Although a report from the Food and Drug Administration suggests many restaurant employees practice poor hygiene in the workplace, the cleanliness of Evanston restaurants is kept in check by the city’s health department.
The FDA study, released in September, reports that one in four fast-food restaurant employees do not practice proper hygiene, such as adequate hand-washing. At full-service restaurants, only one in three employees do. The report found that practices such as eating, drinking, sneezing, coughing and the use of tobacco were significant problems in both fast-food and full-service restaurants. Infected restaurant employees are the source of one in five food-borne illnesses, such as cholera or hepatitis A.
“Proper food handling is the bread and butter of the restaurant business,” said Colleen McShane, president of the Illinois Restaurant Association.
The Evanston Health Department conducts regular random inspections on local establishments and Northwestern dining halls to ensure that they comply with Illinois regulations. If they don’t meet standards, restaurants are given follow-up inspections.
A recent health inspection, conducted in August, found Las Palmas, 817 University Place, lacking in overall hygiene. The inspector found an “employee constantly wiping hands on soiled apron while handling food,” “house flies throughout facility,” and a “hand sink in kitchen being used as dumpsink.”
The restaurant was given a rating of 63 out of 100. A subsequent inspection, however, found that the restaurant had greatly improved its hygienic practices, raising the score to 94.
“We would inspect a fine dining facility more often than a hot dog stand,” said Carla Bush, the health department’s chief of community health services. Inspectors test compliance simply by watching employees at work.
Restaurants are classified by the complexity of the food they prepare, and the frequency of inspections ranges from once every two years to twice in a single year.
Bush said corporate restaurant chains tend to be more stringent about complying with health-code regulations than independent businesses.
“If one place goes bad, it affects (the big corporations) nationally, so they are in a position to take the issue seriously and constantly train,” she said.
Jay Darshane, the manager of Burger King, 1740 Orrington Ave., said his employees are required to check off on washing their hands every half hour and after cleaning or mopping.
“Sanitation is our number one priority,” he said. The fast-food restaurant’s May inspection report had only one violation.
Bush also commended SodexhoUSA, which handles Northwestern’s dining halls, for its strong health inspection program.
Campus dining halls meet or exceed all regulations, said Anne VanOsdol, assistant director of food service at NU. Dining halls must undergo the same testing procedures as other commercial establishments.
Weinberg freshman Deborah Son said her experiences at campus dining halls have been unexceptional.
“(There’s been) nothing really disastrous, maybe like a strand of hair or something,” said Son. “It’s kind of gross, but you don’t really think about it because you’re hungry and you’re still going to eat.”
But Neeral Sheth, a Weinberg sophomore, said he thought his recent visit to a dining hall could have resulted in a food-borne illness.
“I feel sick this week. I’ve really been dehydrated and my stomach’s been hurting,” said Sheth. “I can’t say for sure, but I think it’s from (Foster-Walker Complex).”
Bush said she hoped that Evanston, touted as the “the dining capital of the North Shore” and home to more than 250 food establishments, would continue to maintain better than average sanitary conditions.
McShane also dismissed the study’s findings, emphasizing that cleanliness is always a concern for restaurant owners and managers.
“I don’t know where the FDA is, but sanitation is the number one priority of restaurants,” McShane said.
Reach Beth Murtagh at [email protected].
Squeaky clean?
How some Evanston restaurants fared when put to the cleanliness test by random inspections from the city’s health department:
Las Palmas Cuisine: Tex-Mex
Where: 817 University Place
Gross factor: House flies, hand sink used as a dump
Burger King Cuisine: Fast food
Where: 1740 Orrington Ave.
Gross Factor: Surprisingly clean, only one code violation
Panera Bread Company Cuisine: American
Where: 1700 Sherman Ave.
Gross Factor: Fruit flies
Sodexho USA Cuisine: Variety
Where: Northwestern University Dining Services
Gross Factor: Nothing official but complaints of hair in food
