1-Dec-17 – Chicago will send more health inspectors into battle with unhealthy restaurants. Twenty-two sanitarians will be added to the city’s current total of 38 over the next two years, according to Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

That is half the number of inspectors recommended by a recent city audit but, says one expert, could help bridge a gap, particularly with inspections of smaller establishments.

The cost for the new inspectors will be passed on to larger restaurants through a higher license tax. Establishments larger than 10,000 square feet will pay a $1,325 tax, an increase of $225. Food venues of all sizes, including taverns and grocery stores, will have to pay $50 to $100 if they are re-inspected but the initial inspection will be free.

“When we are hearing about more and more rats in the city, we need to make sure we [are holding] our restaurants and groceries up to a pretty high health standard,” says Daniel Block (left), a professor at Chicago State University and a member of Chicago Policy Food Action Council.

Chicago has more than 13,500 food establishments, inspected year-round but at different intervals. Places with riskier food-handling practices can be subject to two inspections per year, while others may be inspected once every two years. Inspectors also follow up on customer complaints.

In 2016, the city’s inspector general determined that Chicago was short 56 food inspectors needed to adequately inspect all food service businesses. The current 38 inspectors, says Block, are probably not inspecting businesses as often as they should.

“If you can make [health inspections] a more regular thing,” he says, “people won’t try and get around [the health code] as much.”