Talking bugs, filth with restaurant inspectors

If you think restaurant inspectors spend their day worrying about roaches and mice, you'd be wrong. The safety hazards they're most worried about? Unwashed hands and sick employees.

Whistleblower sat down with a group of Minneapolis environmental health specialists -- who inspect the city's 1,700 restaurants, as well as pools, tattoo parlors and other facilities -- to talk about what customers should look out for and whether they actually eat at the restaurants they inspect.

Q A lot of people imagine you go into some dirty places. Is that true?

Katie Lampi: For most people, it's their business and their livelihood and they take care of it in that manner.

Tim Jenkins: It's like any bell-shaped curve. You're going to have some places that are excellent, some in the middle and some that really need our attention.

Q When would you shut down a restaurant?

Lampi: If there's a serious pest infestation or no running water.

Jenkins: A sewer backup, severe lack of oversight, a fire. If you see roaches out during the day, that's the weakest one. The rest are sleeping in the walls.

Q What should patrons do to make sure the restaurant they're eating in is safe?

Sadie Koller: Pay attention to your surroundings. You can see what they're doing, if they're washing their hands, if it appears dirty.

Q What happens when there's a food-borne illness outbreak?

Jenkins: There was a norovirus outbreak a couple months ago. It was a case on a Friday, so we had staff go out on the weekend. We issued a glove order so all employees had to wear gloves. We cleaned and sanitized the facility. We interviewed staff to see if anyone had been sick. We didn't shut them down, but by going on site we prevented anyone else from getting sick.

Q How much weight should customers give to inspections?

Kathy Louden: If there is something that happens, a violation, [the restaurant] might be more diligent. It might be the safest place to go ... Our inspections are a snapshot in time. We get critical violations corrected right away so the hope is to see improvement next time.

Lampi: The fact that we caught a violation should be a comfort because we're going to follow up.

Q What are some of the worst things you see?

Louden: When I walk into a walk-in cooler and find it at 60 or 70 degrees. Or there's a whole crew of people and the hand sink isn't stocked.

Lampi: There's nothing more frustrating than seeing the same problem over and over again.

Q Is that worse than seeing a roach or a mouse?

Koller: When you see a pest, it startles you at first, but the other items are more connected to food-borne illness.

Jenkins: We're fazed by nothing.

LORA PABST