So Dani and I are meant to be getting together for dinner tonight. Only problem is, I just found out that Harrisburg hasn’t had an official restaurant health inspector in more than 6 months! I didn’t know that until now and was shocked to read about it. Now I’m really nervous about going back to any of the restaurants we’ve been to in Harrisburg in the past.
Apparently it’s all to do with budgeting. But there is a promise that the city will be getting a health inspector back. Currently around half of our 400 restaurants haven’t been getting a health inspection. No-one wants the job and, what’s even worse, Harrisburg City Council didn’t even budget for the vacancy for 2012! Although there are promises it will.
It’s not all that bad though. There have been some inspections apparently. Harrisburg code director Dave Patton has covered inspections since Heather Kreeger, who was paid $42,000 annually in the position, resigned to take another job last June. But Patton said he has only been able to inspect restaurants when he has had free time, which is why the city has encountered a backlog.
So I started thinking about where to go tonight and decided we should go back to the FireHouse Restaurant and Bar. Apparently the owner there, Donny Brown, said anyway that “health inspectors only come once or twice per year. If a place is not maintaining good safety standards, a customer is going to know it before any inspector,” That put my mind at ease a bit but I’m sure I’ll be scouring the place for signs of hygiene issues.
