Anyone who’s ever worked in a restaurant probably knows the feeling of dread that is often followed by your boss saying the words “the health inspector is here.”

But Elisha Mabey, an environmental health specialist with Southeastern Idaho Public Health, is changing the stereotype of health inspectors by doing two simple things: being nice to business owners and their employees and educating them on how to do things the right way. She says she never goes into an inspection with the intent to shut a business down; instead, she wants to correct mistakes and help businesses improve.

Mabey, who has been with SIPH since November 2017, recently sat down with the East Idaho Business Journal to chat about her profession, including how she got into it, the most common mistakes businesses make, how she helps businesses solve their problems, and where people can find all the inspection reports for every food-related business in Southeast Idaho.

East Idaho Business Journal: What does an inspection look like? What do you do when you walk into a restaurant?

Elisha Mabey: Typically, the first thing I do when I walk into a restaurant is I introduce myself. “Hi, my name’s Elisha. I’m here with Southeastern Idaho Public Health to do your routine health inspection. Who’s in charge today?” And then, “Can I come on back?” All inspections are random and unannounced, so nobody knows when I’m coming. After introductions, I go ahead and I start the inspection. Typically, I try to start with the line first just because that’s usually what gets busiest, so I try to stay out of people’s way as much as possible. If the line’s really busy, then I’ll start in the back and swap. Then I’m taking temperature, I’m checking sanitation, checking cleanliness, doing a lot of just watching.

EIBJ: How long does an inspection take?

EM: Every inspection is different, to be honest. Some inspections can take 30 minutes, and some inspections can take two to three hours, because we inspect bars, grocery stores, gas stations, fast food restaurants, schools. There’s a whole range of places. A gas station is obviously going to take less time than a grocery store just because of size differences.

The same food code applies to all facilities, but what they’re doing changes what I’m looking at. Grocery stores have delis and bakeries and meat departments, so I’m looking at handling and I’m looking at cook temps and everything like that; whereas at a gas station, they might have a hot dog roller and some freezers. There’s a big difference. Gas stations are a lot simpler, but every facility has its own challenges, its own struggles.

EIBJ: How does one become a food inspector and how did you get interested in it?

EM: I’ve always enjoyed food and cooking. In high school, I took some culinary classes, and as part of our curriculum, we had to take a certified food protection management course, which incidentally is now required by the Idaho Food Code for every facility. During that course, I learned a lot about food safety, about bacteria, and the things that drive certain rules and requirements. I found it really interesting, and so when I went to college, I kept learning. I worked with food all through high school and college, so I kind of magically ended up here. Not every kid’s dream job is to be a health inspector.

EIBJ: Do you have to have a specific degree to do it?

EM: I have a bachelor’s in public health, but we have a wide variety of degrees in our office. It’s more set on a minimum of science credits and then a certification. I’m a registered environmental health specialist and registered sanitarian through the National Environmental Health Association. You have to have that here in Idaho.

EIBJ: How many businesses are you in charge of?

EM: Our health district encompasses eight counties, and in those eight counties, there are about 900 retail food establishments. Of those, I inspect primarily Pocatello city, which encompasses about 300 establishments. Those numbers do change. In the summer, we have a lot of public events, which bring a lot of what we call temporary food vendors, which increase my numbers.

EIBJ: How many inspections do you do per week?

EM: It varies, just depending on other responsibilities, but anywhere from five to 10 usually a week. With every routine inspection we do, I almost always have a followup inspection.

EIBJ: How many health inspectors does SIPH have?

EM: There are seven of us who do inspections for our eight counties. We’re kind of split up by different geographical boundaries. I do Pocatello city primarily. Another gal does Chubbuck. Some people do multiple counties.

EIBJ: Do you try to work with restaurants to correct their violations?

EM: Yes. When I go in, the goal is always to correct a violation on site. So if I see something happening, I’m going to speak to them about it right away and see what we can do to fix it right then. Some things are a little more difficult to fix on site, or maybe impossible, and in that case we do a correction period, but we do a lot of education. So I don’t just walk in, hand a list of violations and walk out. We’re trying to correct on site, we’re trying to educate, help people understand why it’s a violation and what they can do to fix it.

Since I worked in food, I’ve been through a lot of inspections, and so now that I’m on the other side, I feel like it gives me a good perspective of what people are going through.

EIBJ: What are the most common mistakes you see restaurants make?

EM: Some of the most common violations would be temperature abuse, whether they’re incorrectly hot holding or cold holding, or cooling improperly. Cleanliness is a big one. A cleanliness violation can range from something as simple as the roof of a microwave to maybe the entire facility. Contamination is another big one. That encompasses things like handwashing, barehanding — so not wearing gloves when handling the ready-to-eat foods — or even something dealing with raw meats like improper stacking order or handling raw chicken and then making a salad. Another common thing would be products not coming from an approved source.

EIBJ: Under what circumstances can you shut down a restaurant immediately?

EM: There are some absolutes that require immediate closure: no power, no running water or sewage on the floor or if they don’t have a food license, so they’re operating illegally. Those are absolutes; granted, there are other things that maybe come into factor.

EIBJ: If you cite a restaurant for something and they don’t fix it, could that eventually lead to them getting shut down?

EM: Potentially. There’s an enforcement process that we follow. There are a lot of steps that have to be taken first. I do an initial inspection, I set a followup, sometimes additional followups, and if things aren’t corrected, we can move forward into an enforcement inspection and also a compliance conference where they come in and they meet with my boss. There’s definitely a process that has to be followed.

EIBJ: Do you feel like the restaurants want to improve or do they give you a bunch of pushback?

EM: They generally want to improve. My goal is not to go in and leave you this big list and not help you. Because I’m willing to educate and willing to help, I perceive that my restaurants are willing to comply to make improvements. I don’t have a ton of issues with that. Our bottom line is the same: They want to make money and to succeed, and to do that they have to keep the public safe, and I’m there to help them do that.

EIBJ: All of SIPH’s health inspections are available online. Can you explain more about that?

EM: They’ve been online since about 2011, so for most restaurants, that’s a nine-year period of history that you can access. Any time that a restaurant closes or ownership changes, we open a new file, so you’ll only see that current ownership on there. You can open that up, and you can look at violations that they were listed out for, and you can see when they were corrected and when we went back for followups. And it also shows if a violation was corrected on site.

I tell everybody about it, because I’m working hard to make sure that restaurants are in compliance, and I want people to be able to know what’s going on behind the scenes. You’re eating there, too; you should know. Restaurant owners are trying hard as well, and I let them know that their inspection reports are online. I tell everybody all the time. It doesn’t matter where I am. I’m always talking about it.

All our inspections are done electronically, so when I’m out in the field, I do their inspection, I upload it, it’s all there. So inspections are online in relatively real time. So whatever inspection I do today, you could see today.

It’s a really great resource. Most restaurants are trying to comply. They’re trying to do well, to improve, to keep their customers safe and returning.

EIBJ: Are food truck inspections/standards different than brick-and-mortar restaurants?

EM: The rules and regulations for food trucks are the same as they are for brick-and-mortar restaurants. Some of the risk factors might be different. A brick-and-mortar restaurant would have a three-compartment sink for dishwashing — washing, rinse and sanitize — and then a hand wash sink. They might also have some other sinks for food prep and whatnot. On a mobile unit, they also would have the same setup. Some mobile units have commissaries where they prepare their food and then they load it onto the truck for service. So some mobiles don’t do any cooking on their truck, and they take all their dishes back to their commissary to wash and all of that. We want them to be able to take care of their needs while they’re out operating. As a consumer, you still want your food to be safe.

EIBJ: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

EM: I go out and I do these inspections — they’re random, they’re unannounced — but I also go out if someone calls in a complaint and I’ll go visit that facility. If there were ever a reason that someone felt concerned about a restaurant, they’re more than welcome to call us and we’ll go out and investigate that.

Besides restaurant inspections, I also deal with the plan reviews for new restaurants, pre-opening inspections. Before they can open and be issued a license, they have to pass an inspection. I also deal with general questions and answers, emails, phone calls. People have questions: Can they sell this at the farmers market? Does this require regulation? Where do they take their food handler’s permit? There’s just a lot of smaller questions and things. People have ideas, businesses they want to start, so I get a lot of calls about that. If you want to start a taco truck, let me know.