Texas Restaurant Inspectors: Why Pointing Out Those Small Food Violations Matters

Let's just take a moment and thank Texas Health Inspectors.

Behind The Scenes

I happen to know a couple people who were in a restaurant-adjacent industry. Let's just say they brought cleaning supplies to restaurants and helped with equipment and instructions on keeping everything clean.  I guess we should be glad that the restaurants involved were having cleaning supplies delivered, but I heard a number of horror stories about them not being used, and which kitchens I should avoid. You probably don't have the insight I was able to get.

The Inspectors

This leads us to the often-maligned food inspectors. I remember one incident in particular about a beloved barbeque joint getting a bad review. People were calling for the heads of the food inspectors, when they were just doing their jobs. Personally, I don't care if it's my momma's kitchen, I want to know if there are roaches crawling across the cutting board. The Restaurant/Food Inspectors are really your only line of defense against getting contaminated food.

The Ticky-Tack

Sometimes it seems like the inspectors are "piling it on" which is the real inspiration for this post. You are certainly entitled to not take things like "Having a personal drink in the food prep area", "Not washing hands before putting on gloves", or "Not properly labeled" seriously. What these things tend to indicate is that the person in charge of the kitchen has no idea of what the rules are (also, as you may have noticed, the people who make these small mistakes make A LOT of them).  If they make these obvious mistakes in front of an inspector, what are they doing when no one is there?

Second Chances

Yes, it's  bummer when your favorite place comes in with a bad report, but it can be a good thing. We all need little reminders every now and then. If you hear a bad report about a place you love, take the time to see if there's a follow up report and if corrections were made. In the meantime, thank your local food inspector for keeping the people who feed you on their toes.