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Q&A
Status of health inspections for food safety, cigarettes, and vaping
2:03:47
ยท
55 sec
Council Member Gale A. Brewer inquires about the status of health inspections for food safety, cigarettes, and vaping, expressing concern about potential impacts of budget cuts on these important functions. Commissioner Morse provides information on the current state of inspections.
- The current budget for food safety is about $24 million
- DOHMH conducts approximately 30,000 inspections of food service entities per year
- The department is working to hire more staff to ensure timely inspections
- Commissioner Morse acknowledges potential staffing issues and agrees to follow up with specific information on vacancies
- Council Member Brewer expresses concern that staffing for inspections might be a problem
Gale A. Brewer
2:03:47
Okay.
2:03:47
And then the issue of inspections of both for cigarettes, for vaping, for restaurants, etcetera.
2:03:55
Obviously, this is a big aspect of your multifaceted department.
2:03:59
My question is, do you have enough staff to do that?
2:04:02
Is that something that has had to take a back seat because of all the budget cuts?
2:04:07
And I just wanna know where we are with that issue.
Michelle Morse
2:04:11
Thank you for your quest for that question.
Gale A. Brewer
2:04:12
And I'll stop, madam chair.
Michelle Morse
2:04:14
Thank you for the question.
2:04:16
Our current budget for food safety is about $24,000,000, and we do inspections of food service entities, about 30,000 or so per year.
2:04:26
We have been working to hire up in that particular program to make sure that our inspections are done in a very timely way.
2:04:34
But we're happy to follow-up
Gale A. Brewer
2:04:35
with the
Michelle Morse
2:04:35
We can follow-up with the specifics on our vacancy.
2:04:39
Thank you.
Gale A. Brewer
2:04:40
I think it's a problem.
2:04:41
Thank you.
Michelle Morse
2:04:41
Thank you.