Florida Fails To Perform Required Food Inspections

State food monitors aren't performing required inspections for more than a fourth of food service establishments that pose the highest risk to the public, said a report from the state accountability office.

Three state agencies are responsible for ensuring the safety of food service operations across Florida, from day care centers to deli counters. But they are not performing inspections as often as the law and department rules require, said the December report from the state Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability.

"For two departments ... firms posing the highest risk to the public were more likely to miss inspections," said the report.

The Department of Health had the worst record. Its lowest risk establishments, such as bars that limit food service, received their required one visit a year. But nearly a third of the highest-risk operations, those serving children and people who are ill, didn't get the required four inspections a year.

More than a fourth of the highest risk operations inspected by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services - such as grocery stories with sushi and sandwich counters - received fewer than the four required inspections.

Although state law requires the Department of Business and Professional Regulation to perform two annual inspections of a variety of businesses, including theme park food carts, mall kiosks and movie theaters, it failed to do so with 13 percent.

The report said the state's food inspection program was complicated by overlapping responsibilities of the three agencies. Each has a different way of reporting its activities, making them difficult to monitor.

It recommended that the state Legislature require them to adopt more consistent inspection and reporting methods.

The report also said that the three departments should make more inspection data available to the public.

The Department of Business and Professional Regulation posts full restaurant inspection reports on its Web site. But the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services posts only overall ratings for the grocery stores it inspects, with no details. And the Department of Health does not post any inspection data for the nursing homes, schools and other facilities it inspects.

The state agriculture department responded to the report, saying that it met its internal goal of inspecting 70 percent of the highest risk operations four times per year. To do more would require more money for inspectors, it said.