ORLANDO, Fla. — Action 9 pored through thousands of state inspections to find restaurants that keep breaking the rules and that could sicken diners.
Action 9's Todd Ulrich and University of Central Florida food safety expert Robb Seltzer answered viewers' questions about the story Wednesday evening on Facebook Live.
Read some of the questions and answers and watch the full video below.
1. "Why are there so many repeat offenders?"
Ulrich: "The state will say that when they do have problem restaurants, they will go back into them more frequently. Instead of just one inspection a year, there might be three or four. And we are seeing that. But the problem is once they find these issues, we don't think -- a lot of food safety experts on the outside don't think -- that the fines are significant enough for that restaurant to change behavior. It's just as easy to pay the lighter fine and keep on going."
Seltzer: "What's really going to hurt them is loss in sales. Things like this on your program, those restaurants are going to suffer obviously. Word gets out. People don't want to eat at dirty restaurants, and they're going to stay away. We don't have a system like many other states where they post it right on the front door. Who wants to go to a restaurant that got a C? It's still passing, but they got a C. You want to see As and Bs."
2. "If you think a restaurant should be inspected, what should you do?
Ulrich: "You can trigger an inspection. If you call the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation and file a complaint, that will trigger a restaurant inspection. And then you can see what happens right online."
Seltzer: "You can read all the inspections. That's where the TV station got everything from. When I teach a sanitation class, I have my students go through and look at their favorite restaurants or try to find ones that are really bad and present them ... If you make a complaint to the DBPR, you call the local health department and tell them you have an issue, they are required to send somebody there in 24, 48 hours and follow up and do an inspection.
3. Can restaurants just change their name and start all over and hide from their previous inspection results?
Ulrich: "Well, that doesn't happen with us, because we keep track of that address. And if it's similar ownership and they keep the same license number, we are tracking what happens once the name changes, like the New Buffet Kitchen. The ownership changed a year ago. They slightly changed the name. But if you look at their history of inspections, you will see they still had significant issues inside that kitchen, and that's why the state closed them yesterday and again today and why they're trying to get back open now."
Seltzer: "And if they change their name, especially if they have a liquor license, that triggers all sorts of investigations by the state. And they have to renew. They got to get the fire inspection redone again. They have to get the health department to sign off. So, no, it's not that easy to just change your name and move on."
Listen to News 96.5 WDBO at 8 a.m. Friday to hear Ulrich and Seltzer discuss this story further.
Cox Media Group
