Health department works to keep local restaurants safe

JACKSON, Tenn. — There are 321 establishments the health department checks every year for food safety.

“Breakfast bars at hotels, your mobile food units, or food trucks as we know them, your sit-down restaurants and bars,” said Candy Overstreet, environmental health program director at the Jackson-Madison County Regional Health Department.

None of the restaurants are notified before an inspection, and the health department now does everything electronically.

“We’re going to look in your freezer, are you holding that food properly, are you properly storing your chemicals,” Overstreet said.

The forms are split into two parts, priority items and then good practices.

If the restaurant doesn’t pass any part of the priority portion, the inspectors will come back within 10 days to check again.

There are also things you can look out for.

“When you go into a restaurant, you want to make sure they have a permit posted. That means they are permitted with the state of Tennessee,” Overstreet said. “The other thing you’re going to want to look for is their inspection. It should be posted on the wall.”

You can see the scores for any restaurant in Jackson with just a few clicks. Head to the My Health Department website where you can search for restaurants by name.

There you can put in any county, any restaurant and see which parts of the inspection they passed and what needs to be corrected.

If you’re ever at a restaurant and think something isn’t quite right with your food, all you need to do is call the health department and let them know.