Oregon’s Food Safety Program plans to hire a data analyst to track overdue inspections.
The move comes three months after managers discovered a database error that had led Oregon Department of Agriculture Director Alexis Taylor to falsely tout improvements in a years-long inspection backlog.
The program, overseen by ODA, is responsible for ensuring that nearly 12,000 food stores and food processors follow rules to keep consumers safe – rules such as keeping deli food at correct temperatures, protecting products from pests, keeping expired food off shelves and making sure employees wash their hands.
ODA will ask the Oregon Legislature to fund the analyst position in the 2019-21 budget, food safety program director Isaak Stapleton told the department’s Food Safety Advisory Committee Tuesday.
In November 2016, the Oregon Audits Division found nearly a quarter of food safety inspections, or about 2,841, were at least three months past due.
Auditors recommended hiring a data analyst, but program managers said that would take away from inspection time.
In January 2018, Taylor announced the number of past-due inspections had been reduced to just 644. Much of the improvement was achieved by extending inspection frequencies for 1,500 establishments, to as long as every three years.
But in March program managers said there actually were still 2,294 inspections past-due by 90 days or more, even with the frequency adjustments.
That number now stands at 1,966, said Rusty Rock, the program’s field operations manager.
Rock said it’s unlikely that number will change significantly soon.
Two of the program’s 26 inspectors are on maternity leave, Rock said.
“That has really impeded our forward progress,” he said.
And inspectors have recently spent time fielding questions from food producers about Salem’s water crisis, Stapleton said.
On May 29, Salem issued a do-not-drink advisory for children, pets and sensitive individuals after an algae bloom at Detroit Reservoir contaminated the water with toxins.
After consulting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Oregon food safety officials advised Salem food processors that they could suspend production or use an alternate source of water. Some, however, have continued using Salem water.
“ODA at this point doesn’t anticipate taking any regulatory action for firms that have been using the water,” Stapleton said. “We’re leaving it up to them.”
Rock said he’s trying to get inspectors to focus first on establishments with the highest risk of contamination.
But, he said, “I don’t see us making significant headway on huge reductions.”
tloew@statesmanjournal.com, 503-399-6779 or follow at Twitter.com/Tracy_Loew
