For the safest meal in town, you might as well go to jail. The Montgomery County jail is one of the safest dining facilities in the region, with a health inspection record better than practically every other restaurant in the New River Valley.
Since 2003, the jail has only received three "critical" violations during its yearly routine health inspections.
"That's quite impressive," said Gary Coggins, senior environmental health manager for Montgomery County. Very impressive considering average dining establishments accrue critical violations at a much higher rate.
This past August alone, Cabo Fish Taco, Best of Blacksburg's top-picked restaurant, received two critical viola- ions. El Rodeo, the top-picked Mexican food restaurant, received six critical violations last year. Buffalo Wild Wings, voted the best wings restaurant in Blacksburg, has received 15 critical violations and 40 non-critical violations since February.
As defined on the Virginia Department of Health Web site, a non-critical violation is "not directly related to the cause of foodborne illness, but if uncorrected, could impede the operation of the restaurant." There is a minimal likelihood of foodborne illness from negligent non-critical violations, but the Web site states, "Non-critical violations, if left uncorrected, could lead to critical violations."
Critical violations, as defined on the Web site, are "violations of the food regulations, which, if left uncorrected, are more likely than other violations to directly contribute to food contamination, illness, or environmental degradation."
Coggins' team of health inspectors has been vigilantly inspecting Blacksburg's Buffalo Wild Wings location on the corner of Prices Fork Road and North Main Street.
"We've pointed out some areas where (Buffalo Wild Wings) can make improvements and they understand that as well. They are working with us so that we can all end up in the right place," Coggins said. "I would hope that that's where we are getting them to, to that point. That when are done, we can kind of relax a little bit with them. We've been focusing on them a little bit because both Buffalo Wild Wings and my inspectors have come to recognize there are some areas where they can be improved on ... They are getting some hard lessons right now."
According to the health inspection reports, Buffalo Wild Wings has consistently lacked a temperature-measuring device for monitoring its refrigerators.
In three of their four inspections, including their most recent inspection on Aug. 12, chicken had not been stored at the correct temperature of 41 degrees or colder. A thermometer installed in a holding cooler allows employees to ensure chicken, and other potentially hazardous foods are stored at temperatures low enough to "inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria."
Buffalo Wild Wings' General Manager Lee Baskins referred questions about health inspections to Vice President of Operations Mark Puckett. Puckett did not return e-mails requesting comment.
One aspect to food safety Coggins said his team has been stricter on recently is employee management. He said proper health measures start at the top, and work their way down the chain of command.
"The regulations for restaurants recently changed within the last year or so, and one of the changes was we started to focus more on management knowledge and understanding on foodborne illnesses and those sorts of things," Coggins said. "If one of their employees does in fact have salmonella, what exactly should that restaurant operator be doing? It's a very dangerous and highly contagious disease. We don't want them putting many people in the line where they could pass that long through their daily work routine."
On the August 2008 inspection, at least four critical violations occurred because of mismanagement. The restaurant received a critical violation because the "Person In Charge," whoever is managing the restaurant at the moment, failed to acknowledge the proper holding temperatures for potentially hazardous food.
"The PIC should be prepared to recognize conditions that may contribute to foodborne illness," the report states.
The report also states the restaurant received a critical violation because employees were not informed of their obligation to report their personal health, including diagnoses or contact with diseases such as Salmonella, E Coli, or Hepatitis A.
Coggins said the managerial staff at Buffalo Wild Wings had been very receptive to criticism and is progressively acting to ameliorate their gaps in knowledge.
"They've been making progress but you know we are not where we want to be yet, but we say that about a lot of places. They don't pose an imminent risk to anybody, just they could do better," Coggins said, who noted their potential. "Once we get them where we want them to be I think they will ultimately be one of the more vigilant places."
Coggins said members of Buffalo Wild Wings management staff are scheduled to participate in a management certification class this week through Virginia Tech's extension office that emphasizes food safety practices.
Local favorite Cabo Fish Taco on South Main Street has had overall success with its health inspections. Its most recent inspection on Aug. 8 yielded two critical violations and three non-critical violations.
Coggins said the Cabo Fish Taco kitchen lacked a designated handwashing lavatory, which resulted in a critical violation. Health code dictates all kitchen and wait staff should have easy access to a handwashing facility. Hand washing is required by the Virginia Health Department in order to prevent the spread of disease and illness.
"Occasionally what we'll find is a restaurant will upgrade a kitchen area, move stuff around, rearrange when they get new piece of equipment or something in, and if they don't have a real good understanding of everything or they don't come and talk to us before they make those changes they may remove something like a hand sink that should be there," Coggins said. "Usually they didn't think about all the ramifications of their actions and they didn't run it by us first. And they don't have to run everything by us, but anytime they are deal with something like a hand sink it's probably something they need to get in touch with us over."
General Manager Corey Harris said Cabo has since installed a new handwashing sink in the kitchen. The project cost upward of $500 including parts and labor.
"They just didn't like the one we had. One thing about (the health inspectors) is they are sticklers about certain things. And they just wanted certain things," Harris said. "It's obviously for a reason but you do one thing one way, and they don't like it. You do pretty much the same thing another way and its OK. But overall it's for everybody's safety so you know there's obviously a reason why they want certain things done certain ways."
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."