HOLLAND, Mich. (WOOD) -- It's pretty incredible how often we skip a home cooked meal to eat out. Perhaps it's even more incredible what you don't know about your local restaurants.
You can check up on their food safety records right from home.
Most West Michigan counties post their restaurant inspections online for everyone to see.
However, Target 8 discovered Ottawa County canceled its contract with Sword Solutions, Inc. about a year ago. It no longer posts its food establishment inspection reports on the same website used by just about every other surrounding county.
Glen Behan, the general manager of the Curragh in downtown Holland, is proud of the pub's healthy track record, saying the restaurant has never had a “critical” violation. He welcomes an inspection and doesn't flinch at the thought of them being easily accessed online.
"It can be a difficult time when they come in to do the inspection, but it keeps us on the straight and out," said Behan.
Fifty-eight percent of American Adults say they dine out at least once a week, according to a 2013 Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Ottawa County is home to some of the most popular breweries and restaurants in West Michigan. It's also home to two massive outbreaks in recent years when hundreds of diners got sick.
Ottawa County Environmental Health Supervisor Spencer Ballard says the county ditched the online program all the other counties use to invest in newer software.
Ballard wouldn't say how much that investment adds up to, but says the county made the "large" investment in an effort to improve its technology, increase efficiencies, and improve customer service.
The investment is also expected to save the county money in the long term after the many benefits of the software over the coming years.
But until it's up and running, you'll have to call the health department to check up on a restaurant.
"We cannot wait to get those back online," said Ballard, noting how serious illness outbreaks can be for the community. "A mistake in a restaurant that serves hundreds of meals a day can be a really bad situation... and if you're talking about a sauce that goes on 90 percent of the meals that are made at a restaurant, everyone that walks in the door is probably going to walk out and get sick within the next day or two so it's definitely something we want to avoid."
Target 8 requested a copy of all the county's restaurant inspections for the month of March. Out of the 104 inspected, 21 restaurants had “priority” violations including storing food next to cleaning chemicals, not using a strong enough sanitizer on the dishes and half of them had to throw food away because it hadn't been stored at the right temperature.
In April 2014, 24 Hour News 8 showed you where to find and how to break down health inspection reports when officials changed the wording of violations and stopped “passing” or “failing” or grading restaurants.
Alonzo Salinas, a restaurant owner in Holland, learned what a single mistake can do to business the hard way. In July 2012, an estimated 200 people got sick at Margarita's Mexican Restaurant.
"It was really tough; it was really tough at first. We just didn't know what it was that had happened," said Salinas.
Health department investigators discovered they had norovirus which is often found in feces and spread by poor handwashing.
A follow up inspection uncovered cook line employees “handling dirty items and raw food and not washing their hands.” The report said, “employees didn't wash their hands at all during the inspection.”
In April 2014, another restaurant in Ottawa County had a norovirus outbreak. More than 100 people got sick after eating at the Wild Chef in Holland.
Target 8 obtained the most recent health inspections on both restaurants. The inspector commended Wild Chef for its improvements, but that hasn't been the case for Margarita's Restaurant.
The most recent inspection, which was in January 2015, shows repeat violations including employees still not washing their hands. The inspector wrote “the one hand sink in the kitchen was completely dry with only one paper towel in the waste basket.”
"It's just us keeping on the persistency of making sure that they're washing their hands," said Salinas.
After the norovirus outbreak, Salinas installed a sink near the kitchen, posted signs and now talks with employees regularly about washing their hands.
"We really do care about our customers. I would say 80 percent of our customers are repeat customers," said Salinas.
Ballard commended Salinas for working with the county to make sure customers are safe.
The county's restaurant inspections are expected to be back online by January 2016. Ballard says you'll be able to read through the inspections more easily with the new software. He says posting the restaurant inspections for all to see works well for both restaurant owners and the community.
"I think transparency and it's also a motivational tool for restaurants knowing that that information is readily available," said Ballard.
If you want to see the latest inspection on your favorite Michigan restaurant, here's a link to all of the Michigan counties that post their restaurant inspections.
