Information on restaurants with food-handling problems serious enough to have their licenses suspended will be posted on the Snohomish Health District’s Web site, the first time such information will be available online.
Until now, anyone interested in reviewing problems leading to the closure of a restaurant had to come to health district offices in Everett, said Rick Miklich, who oversees the public health agency’s restaurant inspectors.
People often ask, "Why don’t you post these things?" he said.
The district board unanimously approved posting the suspensions online Tuesday, as well as listing restaurants that are called in for conferences, the last step before a license is suspended.
Eight Snohomish County restaurants have had their licenses temporarily suspended this year, Miklich said. Managers of up to four restaurants each year are called in to talk about action plans to keep them from having their licenses suspended, he said.
Miklich called the posting of such information as a first step in providing restaurant inspection information to the public.
In King County, far more comprehensive restaurant information is posted, and it has proved to be one of the most popular parts of that county’s public health Web site.
Since it was launched in September 2001, information on King County’s 10,000 permitted food establishments has been accessed more than 1 million times, said James Apa, spokesman for Public Health Seattle and King County.
Web users can look at the records of individual restaurant inspections and find out information on what inspectors look for at restaurants.
The Web site information is part of the public health agency’s overall information system on restaurants, which costs about $180,000 a year, King County spokeswoman Hilary Karasz-Dominguez said.
Cost is why more restaurant information, such as previous inspection reports on Snohomish County’s 2,700 permitted food establishments, are not posted here, Miklich said. The agency also supervises food preparation standards at 700 food booths at fairs and other community events.
The most recent eatery to have its license temporarily suspended was the Phoenix Restaurant, 14007 Highway 99 in Lynnwood, Miklich said. It was closed for one day for improper handling of food and storing food at room temperature.
Since most temporary closures are for one day, information will be posted on the Internet after the restaurant has reopened. No decision has yet been made on how long the information will remain online.
Reporter Sharon Salyer:
425-339-3486 or
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