Restaurants ready for service in state food-safety program

Hawaii’s 18-month-old, color-coded food establishment inspection program temporarily shuttered three businesses and ordered them, along with 2,102 others, to fix multiple “critical violations” — but now all are back up and open for business, the state Department of Health’s Sanitation Branch announced Monday.

Gregg Fraser, executive director of the Hawaii Restaurant Association, called the number of “yellow placards” — for multiple, critical violations — issued by the Health Department “surprisingly high.”

But Fraser also said that the placards that are now at the entrance of every island food establishment are part of “an excellent program” that gives Hawaii consumers more information about the places that handle their food.

“In the past everything was dealt with behind the scenes, and the public had no idea what was going on,” Fraser said. “Now it’s literally in your face on the front door of each establishment.”

Since the program was imported from California’s Sacramento County and launched in July 2014, virtually all of Hawaii’s 10,000 restaurants, hotels, caterers, food warehouses, markets, convenience stores, lunch wagons and pushcarts — and kitchens for health care facilities, preschools, elementary schools, adult and child day care centers, and prisons — have undergone inspection.

But health officials still want to be notified by the public of any food-related operations that aren’t posting its placards, which come in green to indicate compliance with Hawaii’s food safety code, yellow if there are two or more critical violations, and red for places that are ordered closed “because they pose an imminent health hazard to the community,” according to the Health Department.

A green placard tells consumers that a business or kitchen is “protected from foodborne illnesses and other health hazards,” said Peter Oshiro, head of the Health Department’s inspection program.

While Fraser was surprised by the number of establishments dinged for multiple, critical violations, Oshiro said after the program’s first three months, the statewide volume of out-of-compliance businesses has fallen.

Restaurants with yellow placards are allowed to stay open. Most yellow card violations are cleared up within two or three days. And Oshiro hopes that voluntary compliance will further reduce the volume of yellow card violations to 15 percent within the next two years.

The overwhelming majority of violations are the result of sick personnel or employees’ failure to maintain proper personal hygiene, Oshiro said, followed by not keeping proper refrigeration temperatures of no more than 41 degrees.

Since October three Oahu businesses — Makittii Hawaii restaurant on Kuhio Avenue, Paalaa Kai Bakery in Waialua and Blue Water Seafood and Shrimp Market in Ala Moana Center — were issued red placards and ordered to pay fines: $35,000 for Makittii, $22,000 for Paalaa Kai and $9,000 for Blue Water.

All three cleared up their violations and reopened. But they’re all contesting their fines before upcoming Health Department administrative hearings, Oshiro said.

The fines go into the state general fund and are not used to directly pay for the inspection program, he said.

The program has been helped by the rapid hiring of more health inspectors on Oahu, which has 6,000 food-related establishments, by far the most in the islands.

In 2011, with nine Oahu inspectors, it used to take 2-1/2 years to get to every food establishment, Oshiro said.

Now with 27 inspectors and four more positions waiting to be filled, Oshiro expects that every Oahu establishment will be inspected at least annually — and full-service restaurants that handle raw food will be visited three times a year.

By comparison, Hawaii island has 1,800 establishments and eight inspectors, Maui has 1,700 establishments and four inspectors (out of eight budgeted positions) and Kauai has 690 establishments and three inspectors, Oshiro said.

The Health Department wants to hear about any food-related establishments that aren’t displaying a placard. Consumers are asked to call the department at 586-8000.

Sometime in the first three months of 2016, the Health Department plans to post inspection results online. The portal also will allow establishments to apply and pay for permits online.