Guess Whats Coming With Dinner?
There were insect fragments on the china, live roaches in the food preparation area behind the counter, a dead roach in the refrigerator, vermin excrement in the toaster, one dead rat and one rat skeleton in the basement and a dead fly in the stew that was being readied for waiting customers. The steps leading down into the basement and the kitchen floor were covered with rodent stools. The store’s backyard was infested with flesh-piercing flies.
Before Hirschhorn left, he condemned about 20 pounds of food in the store and "denatured" it by dousing it with Clorox.
IN SPITE OF the nightmare world in which they function, the department’s 25 sanitarians, who stand between the citizenry and bubonic plague, typhoid fever, botulism poisoning, and a great many other diseases and emergencies that any self-respecting city shouldn’t even have to worry about, seem to have extremely high morale.
They respect their supervisors and department heads who have a reputation in city government for backing their men to the hilt, despite pressure or political blackmail. Philadelphia sanitarians usually average less than $10,000 a year and they strongly believe that their college degrees and training should entitle them to better salaries than rookie policemen. As it is, they are fortunate in comparison with health inspectors in other cities who earn several thousands of dollars less.
In Philadelphia they handle six to eight cases and complaints in a working day but these figures are misleading — 25 clean, sanitary establishments could easily be checked out in a matter of hours. On the other hand, a plant or restaurant with serious fundamental violations may require a sanitarian’s supervision and consultation for several hours at a time.
People attempt to bribe health inspectors with everything from cups of coffee to substantial offers of money. According to Hirschhorn, most people try to bribe inspectors after violations have been cited and dealt with. It seems they hope the inspector will be less conscientious the next time around.
Within the department itself, there is a severe split in the philosophy of code enforcements. The health inspectors who see themselves as public educators in the fields of food sanitation and environmental safety feel that the thrust of their work should be directed toward advising and educating the public rather than merely penalizing offenders. They prosecute when necessary but prefer not to use judicial artillery.
If education were possible, Philadelphia would be a far safer place. But unfortunately, the department is not really equipped to dispense lucid information. Randy Hirschhorn almost has a master’s degree, yet sometimes he, too, has difficulty understanding the regulations that the City distributes to food handlers as guidelines.
The problem could be easily solved by rewriting the rule books and launching educational campaigns, but such useful programs would involve money, and money is a scarce commodity in the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.
