This morning, the San Francisco City Attorney’s office began notifying local restaurants that their certification for food safety managers will no longer be recognized as valid as a result of inappropriate testing and certification procedures.
State law requires food facilities to have at least one employee or owner who has successfully passed an approved and accredited Food Safety Certification examination.
The original investigation, initiated by the Dept. of Public Health (DPH) and conducted by City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s office, “uncovered significant irregularities in the administration of the exams by three DPH food inspectors working independently and without the authority of the Department”.
They found that numerous food safety certifications had been issued to individuals who never actually took the exam, while other test takers were given correct answers during the course of their exam. And other times, test materials and correct answers were shared with examinees before the test was administered.
As a result of the investigation, two of the three DPH food inspectors were fired, and an investigation
continues into the conduct of the third employee.
The notices sent to food facilities this morning allege no wrongdoing or immediate food safety problems on the part of restaurants or individual certificate holders. Rather, City public health authorities have determined that affected certificate holders must be recertified.
The affected restaurants will have 60 days to obtain new certifications, or to inform DPH that another validly certified staffer can fulfill the required role.
Among the list of 345 restaurants affected by this enforcement, I identified 38 that reside here in the Richmond District (94118, 94121 zip codes). Again, these restaurants have done nothing wrong and this notice is not an indicator of a health safety violation.
|
Belly Burgers Blue Danube Coffee House Bubble Zone Burger King Cafe Sadko Cheung Hing Chinese Restaurant Clement BBQ Crepevine Cynthia’s Crepes El Monsour European Food Wholesale First Cake |
Golden Chariot Restaurant Golden Deer Vietnamese Golden Donut House of Clay Pot Kaju Market Karamanduka KL Restaurant La Vie Lincoln Park Market Mandalay Restaurant Maze Cafe Minh’s Garden Ocean King Restaurant |
Pho Hoa Picnix Bistro & Carry Out Ping’s Meat Market Queen Malika Cafe Royal Ground Coffee Shabu House Spices Spices II Star of India Sunstream Cafe Sweet Delight Bakery Tart to Tart Turtle Tower |
Read the full press release and restaurant list here
More on this story from SF Gate
Sarah B.
This is too bad. I wonder if the city will pay for these restaurants to get recertified? It’s not their fault (from what I understand) that their certifications are no good.
It didn’t say anything about a fee in the voluminous PDF that they sent out, so I imagine they’re not charging them. But I’m not even clear if they normally charge for the certifcation.
According to the Chronicla article, the corrupt examiners were charging for their services. So although the restaurants are not being blamed for anything, it does bring into question what actually happened on the part of the restaurant owners?
The Health Inspectors that were selling these illegal, phony health certificates were Clifton Sanders, Andy Jin, Tim Ng, Fong (Contra Costa Environmental Health Department), Edmond Tong (San Mateo Health Department) and many others. They were allowed to retire or transfer to another county with good references.