CASPER, Wyo. — The Casper-Natrona County Health Department is on the job, inspecting a range of food establishments from restaurants to grocery stores. Each place gets an unannounced inspection at least twice a year.
Health officials categorize violations into three types: priority, priority foundation, and core. While they do look for issues, the main aim is to educate businesses about safe practices and how to address problems.
According to the program manager for Environmental Health in Natrona County, there’s no pass or fail in these inspections. All violations must either be fixed immediately or within 10 days. Just because a business has a violation doesn’t mean it’s unsafe.
If a reinspection is needed, it usually means the problem was serious or took more time to fix. However, most facilities manage to repair issues within the timeframe.
For insights into specific establishments, the health department publishes full reports available on their website.
Here’s a brief rundown of some recent inspections:
Starbucks Coffee North Center
Violations: 1
Re-inspection Required: No
Link to full report
Comments: Employees were seen working in the food service area without proper hair restraints.
Jersey Mikes
Violations: 3
Re-inspection Required: No
Link to full report
Comments: No written procedure for handling vomiting or diarrhea was noted. Prepped items like chicken salad and tuna salad lacked proper date-marking. Unlabeled containers were found in the coolers.
Bricker Bunch Childcare
Violations: 0
Re-inspection Required: No
Link to full report
Health inspections are crucial for public safety. A 2021 survey showed that 75% of people consider health inspections very important when choosing where to eat, highlighting the public’s demand for transparency and safety in food establishments. As consumers become more health-conscious, the expectations of businesses will only increase.
For more information on health standards and overall food safety, check out this CDC food safety guide.
