PORTLAND
Restaurant owners and health inspectors in Portland, Maine, say food safety courses and an increase in inspectors have led to more restaurants passing health inspections.
The Portland Press Herald reports that only 6.4 percent of restaurants failed inspections in 2014 — a dramatic decline from 83 percent in 2011, when the city hired its first health inspector.
Greg Dugal, the head of the Maine Restaurant Association, told the newspaper he credits the city for partnering with restaurant owners and offering a food safety courses.
“In most cases, these guys are doing a good job and working with (restaurants) to make things happen,” Dugal said. “The course offered by these guys result in a safer food environment.”
State law requires that restaurants be inspected once every two years.
The city now has two fulltime and one part-time health inspectors. It posts inspection reports online and offers a food-handling course to allow restaurant staff members to become certified food protection managers.
In a series of investigative reports in 2012, the newspaper revealed that many Portland restaurants hadn’t been inspected for years.
Since the failure rate of 82.6 percent in 2011, the percentage of restaurants that fail health inspections has steadily declined. More than 45 percent of the restaurants inspected in 2012 failed. In 2013 the percentage dropped to 10.5 percent. Only 31 of 482 restaurants — 6.4 percent — failed in 2014.
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