Health inspectors slog through large backlog of restaurant site visits

About 30% of Fulton eateries haven’t been checked in over a year.

There’s a chance your favorite restaurant hasn’t seen a health inspector for more than a year — and some haven’t been inspected for two years, according to the Fulton County Board of Health.

There are about 6,500 food service establishments in Fulton County, though that number constantly fluctuates as some close and new ones open up, according to Brandon Leftwich, director of Environmental Health.

Board of health standards call for concession stands, coffee shops and ice cream parlors to be inspected once a year, and for restaurants that prepare food on-site to be inspected every six months.

A big backlog in inspections developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has endured due to a lack of health inspectors.

That backlog stood at about 2,300 overdue inspections in mid-february, County Manager Dick Anderson told Fulton County commissioners.

That has improved somewhat in the last month, as Leftwich asked his staff to increase their rate of inspections from two a day to three or four. That will still vary depending on the size and complexity of each inspection, he said.

A search of the public health inspection webpage showed 689 establishments inspected during February, averaging 34 per workday — two or three per inspector.

As of mid-march, about 30% of Fulton County restaurants hadn’t been inspected in more than a year, Leftwich said.

“We’ve knocked that number down from 47% all the way to 30%,” he said.

Many restaurants closed during the pandemic — and some temporary closures became permanent, Leftwich said. His office is still working to find which of those restaurants overdue for inspection are actually open.

“A lot of them aren’t, so that’s helping with the numbers as well,” he said. Leftwich told Fulton commissioners he hopes to work through the backlog by sometime this fall.

Leftwich said inspectors are working through the most overdue inspections first. Twenty people are now doing inspections, but a half-dozen of those are inspecting swimming pools, hotels and other features. There is no backlog in those inspections, Leftwich said.

That leaves 14 people to inspect food-service establishments. Three more inspectors have recently been hired, but the board is looking for five or six more.

“It takes a while to get them fully trained,” Leftwich said.

He says he hopes to recruit from other health districts, and to that end Leftwich is working with the board’s finance department on raising starting pay above surrounding counties, he said.

The public can reach the board of health with any concerns about restaurants at fultoncountyboh. com or 404-613-1303.

FILE An environmental specialist checks the temperature of pasta sauce during an inspection. Fulton County has 14 staffers to inspect food establishments.