Collegiate Times

El Rodeo's management staff knows about investing in customer safety. This past year, El Rodeo spent $20,000 on a new walk-in refrigerator in order to meet health code regulations for controlling food temperature.

Manager Julion Arellano said they purchased the new cooler because their old system had been too small, which did not allow food to cool as efficiently. He said their new refrigeration installation is twice as big and cools food much more successfully.

During a routine inspection on Sept. 25, 2007, El Rodeo received five critical violations. One of which was because its beef quesadillas, refried beans, milk, cooked pork, chicken quesadillas, burrito sauce, cheese dip and sour cream were not held below the required temperature of 41 degrees or cooler.

Arellano said the food was measured at 46 degrees. During a recent interview, he checked the temperature of his new $20,000 cooling unit and it read 38 degrees.

During a follow-up inspection a month after its September report, El Rodeo received one critical violation and one non-critical violation. Its currently due for another inspection from Coggins' office.

Coggins said besides routine and follow-up inspections, health inspectors are often called for complaint inspections. Coggins said if a patron of a restaurant becomes ill and notifies the health department bureau, a team is dispatched to investigate the case. These random inspections are not listed on the Virginia Health Department Web site.

"Enough (complaint inspections) are unfounded so it is unfair to post about complaints on restaurants; it could besmirch the name of an establishment," Coggins said. "We refer to it sometimes as the 'Last Supper Syndrome.'"

Coggins said when a patron becomes sick with gastrointestinal symptoms they will often place calls to his office listing the restaurant they last dined as the culprit. Coggins said this is usually unfounded because many foodborne illnesses have a 48-hour incubation period.

No matter what, Coggins said, his first and utmost concern is customer safety. Even though establishments that are highly revered and considered top notch receive critical violations, he said this does not necessarily accurately reflect the restaurant's dedication to cuisine and consumer safety.

"If we felt a place was unsafe they wouldn't be operating," Coggins said. "There's some places that do better jobs than others. And we are working with everybody so everybody can do an outstanding job."

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