Politics & Government

Restaurant Inspectors Praised After Poll

In a survey, most restaurants said sanitarians communicate clearly and take an acceptable amount of time.

The Madison Board of Health surveyed the borough's 124 retail food establishments during the last three weeks and found most of the stores that responded had positive experiences working with Madison's registered environmental health specialists, the board announced.

The survey, which had a 35 percent response rate, consisted of six questions about the “most recent REHS visit,” and three additional questions when the most recent visit was in connection with a violation, a board news release said.

The board said the responses to the survey were "very positive," with 85 percent to 92 percent of respondents saying they 'agreed' or 'strongly agreed' that the REHS:

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  • Provided information that helped them better understand safe food handling practices
  • Communicated in a way that was clear and easy to understand
  • Gave enough time to correct violations
  • Took an acceptable amount of time to complete the inspection

The survey also provided an opportunity for free form comments and 12 were provided.

“I was gratified to see that the majority of comments were very positive and give appropriate recognition to Ben Samara and Tamica Trotman for the fine work they do,” said health officer James Norgalis. “We also value the opportunities for improvement that were brought to our attention and look forward to responding to the restaurant community’s needs.”

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The environmental health specialists, or sanitarians, are responsible for making sure restaurants and shops handle food safely and do not expose their customers to food-borne illnesses.

“This is a job that no one knows about when it’s being done well so we are pleased to let our community know that the staff are doing an excellent job," Board President John Hoover said. "In these belt-tightening times, the Board also wanted to make sure that Health Department staff are delivering the value that taxpayers deserve, so we decided to conduct our own, independent, survey of their performance."


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