PA Auditor General Jack Wagner Finds Department of Agriculture Has Improved Restaurant Oversight

Auditor General Jack Wagner today commended the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture for taking steps to correct deficiencies in the state's restaurant inspection program that the Department of the Auditor General discovered in a 2005 special performance audit.

"The Department of Agriculture has made positive changes, thereby improving the overall inspection and licensure of food-service establishments in Pennsylvania," Wagner said. "Accordingly, we do not believe it is necessary to conduct an entirely new audit at this time. However, because more improvements are necessary and certain issues are still unresolved, we will monitor Agriculture's performance by continuing to seek progress reports. And we will conduct another audit, if necessary."

Wagner's comments are included in a special report that the Department of the Auditor General released today. It is publicly available at www.auditorgen.state.pa.us.

The special report made three conclusions:

-- Agriculture must still do more to improve its restaurant inspection program so the public is assured that Pennsylvania's eateries are safe and clean.

-- Agriculture must still implement some of the auditor general's recommendations and must communicate more and better with the public about unresolved issues. Examples of such unresolved issues include Agriculture's awarding of annual licenses to non-compliant restaurants/food businesses, Agriculture's failure to conduct timely re-inspections of non-compliant food businesses, and Agriculture's failure to revoke the license of non-compliant food businesses since the Department of the Auditor General's special performance audit was released in November 2005.

-- Agriculture has been working with the General Assembly to address legislative inadequacies, including raising fines for food businesses in violation of state regulations.

"Agriculture has told us it will continue to make progress," Wagner said. "Following through aggressively with this commitment will help to assure the public that eating places are safe and clean."

Under a new policy initiated by Wagner, the Department of the Auditor General reviews special performance audits two years after they have been released to determine if its recommendations are being implemented and if a follow-up audit is needed. A recent review by the Department of the Auditor General determined that the Department of Agriculture had taken the following positive steps in response to Wagner's audit. They include:

-- Implementing a new Web-based computer system that links Agriculture's licensing database to its inspection database. The new computer system also enables Agriculture to collect more data from local health departments that conduct their own inspections.

-- Publicly posting inspection reports on the Department of Agriculture's Web site.

-- Adding eight new permanent restaurant inspectors, a new director, assistant director and temporary inspectors to help eliminate the inspection backlog.

In the special performance audit report released in November 2005, Wagner said that the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture was putting public health at risk by failing to routinely inspect restaurants and other food-service businesses before renewing licenses.

Auditors found that about 4,000 of the state's 17,597 restaurants, bars/clubs, and retail stores that serve food and drinks had their licenses renewed annually even though they had not been inspected for two years or more. The audit, which covered the period from Jan. 1, 2002, to Dec. 31, 2004, revealed systemic weaknesses at Agriculture regarding inspections, licensing, and record-keeping.

State law requires restaurants to be inspected before a license is issued. It also requires restaurants to be inspected before a license is renewed each year. However, the original audit found that Department of Agriculture officials had instructed field inspectors to use professional judgment in scheduling inspections. As a result, some restaurants were inspected annually while others were inspected every 18 months or two years. Even when inspections were completed, and violations were found, the department failed to follow up to make sure the violations had been corrected. The audit also found that fines and penalties for violations cited during inspections were rare and insignificant.

Auditor General Jack Wagner is responsible for ensuring that all state money is spent legally and properly. He is the commonwealth's elected independent fiscal watchdog, conducting financial audits, performance audits, and special investigations. The Department of the Auditor General conducts approximately 5,000 audits per year. To learn more about the Department of the Auditor General, taxpayers are encouraged to visit the department's website at www.auditorgen.state.pa.us.

Source: Pennsylvania Department of the Auditor General

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