Pinal County Food Establishment Inspections Now On-Line

Is your favorite restaurant in Pinal Co. rated an "S," "E," "N," or "U"? You can find out how Pinal Co. Environmental Health inspectors have rated your favorite restaurant or any establishment that handles food on the County's website: co.pinal.az.us/EnvHealth.

Five field inspectors canvass various eating establishments throughout the Co. in an effort to check the cleanliness of each restaurant in order to safeguard the public.

"The complexity of the food prepared in an establishment & the type of population they serve dictates how many times a year they are inspected, which could be up to 3 times a year" commented Environmental Health's Food Program Manager Ralph Bustamante. He added that people can check out on the department's website the grade the restaurant was given by the inspector: either an "E' for excellent, "S" for satisfactory, "N" for needs improvement or "U" for unacceptable. If a restaurant receives an "E", it is found to have no critical items found during the inspection. "We are always hoping that we will not find any critical items during an inspection," Bustamante said.

If there are any critical items found, Bustamante said, the restaurant is informed how to improve for the safety of the eating public.

"The idea of putting the information on the web is to protect the public," the Food Program Manager said. "We receive comments from the citizens all the time-typically positive. Our job is to protect the public health, so if we can make their job easier to make an informed decision, the better."