Food Safety

The Environmental Health Specialist of Sullivan County Health Department is responsible for protecting the health of the public. This is done by setting local food safety standards, conducting inspections, ensuring that standards are met, and maintaining a strong enforcement program to deal with those who are in violation of current local food ordinances.

Food Safety Inspections and Violations

Restaurants in Sullivan County are inspected according to their degree of risk – the higher the risk, the more frequent the inspections with minimum of 2 per year. Food inspection violations found during an inspection are categorized into the critical or noncritical violations. Critical violations can have a direct impact on the safety of the food. Noncritical violations are usually sanitation or maintenance issues and are the violations most often observed by the public while dining.

Critical Violations

Critical items can have a direct impact on the safety of the food.

Examples of critical violations include:

  • Cross contamination between raw and ready-to-eat food
  • Touching ready-to-eat foods without gloves
  • Food from an unapproved source
  • Improper food temperature
  • Improper sewage disposal
  • Lack of food safety knowledge by the person in charge
  • Presence of pest or animals
  • Poor personal hygiene and employee health

Noncritical Violations

Noncritical items play an important role in the overall performance of the facility but alone do not directly affect food safety. Examples of noncritical violations include:

  • Dirty floors
  • Dirty non-food contact equipment
  • Grease on the floor
  • Outside trash cans not covered