The Environmental Health Staff at ESDHD routinely inspect the 400+ restaurants licensed within the district as part of its food protection program. Staff conduct plan reviews for new food establishments, conduct routine and follow up inspections based on the restaurant classification, and will respond to any complaints received. For many years, local health departments throughout the State of CT conducted restaurant inspections using a State Public Health code. In February 2023, the State adopted the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Food Code, which is now used by local health departments in CT for their food protection programs. In addition to following a new code, health inspectors use a new inspection form, and there are new timelines for correcting violations. The new inspection form does not have a scoring system like the previous form. There is no “Pass” or “Fail”. Instead, the FDA Code allows Health Inspectors to look at the overall operation of the establishment and determine the overall risks within the establishment that may lead to foodborne illness.

Health code violations under the FDA Food Code are now identified as Priority, Priority Foundation, and Core items. Each violation listed has set timeframes to be corrected. For example, Priority items are the highest risk factor violations. Priority violations can have a direct link to someone getting sick. For example, a Priority violation would be marked if a piece of raw chicken was not cooked to the proper temperature. Priority items are corrected at the time of inspection, or within 3 days. Priority foundation items must be corrected at the time of inspection, or within 10 days of the inspection. Priority foundation items contribute to the high-risk factor violations. An example of a priority foundation item is not having a food thermometer available. If an establishment has no food thermometer available, staff would not be able to take a temperature of the chicken to make sure it is cooked properly. Core violations are focused on good retail practices, and typically do not have a direct link to foodborne illness. Examples include unclean floors and walls, and rusted storage shelving. Core violations should be corrected within 90 days.

Additional requirements under the FDA Food Code includes date marking of certain food items, having signage specific to the 9 major allergens in place, requiring additional restaurant staff to obtain the Certified Food Protection Manager certification, and having necessary policies and procedures in place. ESDHD staff continue to work with restaurants on the changes. We held information sessions for the restaurants to review the changes of the FDA Code, compiled FDA Food Code folders to provide to establishments, and have taken time at inspections to answer questions regarding the new code. We acknowledge and appreciate all the hard work the restaurants have put in throughout this process, and are looking forward to the continued work in 2024.