View from Berkeley, Calif.
Berkeley is one of only four cities in the state to run a food inspection program separate from its county, but some government leaders appear open to changing that after a scathing audit revealed the extent of the independent program's woes.
The city's Environmental Health Division only completed 29% of its required inspections for restaurants, cafes, grocery stores, catering services and similar food facilities in 2023. Nearly half were never inspected at all, compared to just 3% for the rest of Alameda County, Berkeley City Auditor Jenny Wong's office reported.
"City leadership left a supervisor role and food inspector role vacant for over four years," Wong said in a statement in July, when the audit was released. "With existing staff pulled to help with other programs across the Division, it's no surprise the food inspection program fell behind."
The Environmental Health Division's own guidelines instruct employees to investigate reports of foodborne illness within one business day, but inspectors only responded to a quarter of 2023 reports within that timeframe.
Berkeley is also the only city in Alameda County that does not require businesses to publicly post food inspection scores.
The audit report raised concerns about the lack of online data and tracking for spending and revenue. For example, the division could not say whether inspection fees exceeded operating costs.
The division said Berkeley's general fund covers 40% of inspection costs, but the auditor's office could not independently verify that information. The report said that percentage is high not only compared to Alameda County, but also to other cities with similar independent inspection programs.
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Based on these findings, City Councilmember Rashi Kesarwani introduced a $100,000 budget referral earlier this year to explore the possibility of deferring food inspection responsibilities to the county.
Three other council members -- nearly half the council -- signed on to co-sponsor the item.
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"I remain skeptical that the kind of sweeping changes that are required to be made can be effectively and efficiently made by the city," said Councilmember Igor Tregub, one of the co-sponsors.
The budget referral is only a request for funding in next year's budget -- and the council will choose which requests to fulfill by the end of the year.
In the meantime, the Environmental Health Division has agreed to several intermediate deadlines with the auditor's office to comply with the recommendations from the report.
By the end of October, the division should develop a plan to improve routine food inspections, as well as develop a plan to respond to foodborne illness complaints in a timely manner. The division will also begin recruiting for a new supervisor.
"Clearly, the spotlight is on us to fix this, and to exceed the public's expectations," Scott Gilman, the newly appointed head of Berkeley's Health, Housing and Community Services Department, said during the June council meeting when Kesarwani's item was introduced.
Despite numerous requests, Gilman was not available for additional comment.
The story of Berkeley's understaffed and underperforming health division is not an anomaly -- even among cities with independent oversight over their food inspection programs.
Pasadena -- with nearly the same population as Berkeley -- faced similar woes in the early 2010s: inspections were behind schedule, positions were left vacant for years, and the director at the time said the program was in a "tailspin."
But unlike Berkeley, Pasadena was able to correct its course under a new manager who took over the program in 2013 and implemented many of the changes recommended for Berkeley's program, such as an online database and public scoring placards.
Ten years later, and only 1% of Pasadena's facilities went uninspected in 2023, according to data from Berkeley's audit.
Despite the success of Pasadena's case, it appears to be an outlier. Long Beach and Berkeley, the only other cities of comparable size with independent programs, saw 30% and 45% of their facilities go uninspected last year, respectively.
The main reason why most California cities opt to go through their county for these inspections is efficiency, according to Kesarwani's item.
"The county's larger pool of resources and established systems for data management and reporting suggest that the city should further explore the possibility of referring food facility inspections to the county," the budget referral states.
The council is set to hear updates from the health division about its compliance with the audit recommendations in December. Kesarwani said that based on those updates, the council will decide whether to honor her budget referral and set aside the $100,000 to explore other options.
"If we are not able to pull that off by the end of the year, then I think my new job should be questioned," Gilman said at the June meeting. "We absolutely have to exceed expectations as we go forward and improve the service. But if we continue to have problems, then we absolutely have to look at all options at that point."
