State beefs up program

Industry officials are open to a plan to boost inspections and encourage eatery compliance

By Mary Vorsino

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Feb 03, 2013

~~<p>As part of an ambitious plan to drastically reduce the "extremely high" number of major food safety violations found at Hawaii eateries, the state will more than double the number of restaurant inspectors to 26 over the coming year, increase the frequency of unannounced inspections of food establishments, and move to a placard system that will let customers know if food safety problems were found.</p>
<p>Also, as early as 2014, the state Department of Health hopes to put food safety inspection reports for all eateries online in a searchable database, a move to improve compliance with regulations.</p>
~~

As part of an ambitious plan to drastically reduce the "extremely high" number of major food safety violations found at Hawaii eateries, the state will more than double the number of restaurant inspectors to 26 over the coming year, increase the frequency of unannounced inspections of food establishments, and move to a placard system that will let customers know if food safety problems were found.

Also, as early as 2014, the state Department of Health hopes to put food safety inspection reports for all eateries online in a searchable database, a move to improve compliance with regulations. Login for more...