When I moved to Nevada and became involved in the Food Industry here it was my introduction to the community that the Health Department is one of the toughest in the nation. Certainly when I read the Review Journal and saw the results of inspections that were published there, it was an eye opening experience.

These days KTNV has been promoting an on-going series called Dirty Dining that has once again started shining the spot light on dirty restaurants in the valley. I can not tell you how many times I have been made sick by eating here in the city. Believe it or not, there were occasions when I saw that freight train coming at me when I entered the questionable establishment.

The Dirty Dining Report by reporter Tricia Keen has a lot of videos on their web site but what strikes me is how many of the “Dirty Diners” are ethnic, small businesses who come from cultures that have different standards than what many of us expect to see. Granted that is simply no excuse, because when you sign up to play in the game you have to play by the same rules.

Where are those reports on the big fancy hotels in the city? In my own experience working in a couple hotels in Vegas the environments are generally clean and attentive to Health Department standards. The one thing that always bothered me there is that the hotels were given advance notice of a Health Department visit and always looked very ‘friendly’ inspections (finger pushing side of nose).

I have seen some really disgusting things in some of my former work places and like me, it is up to the individual to make sure food remains safe, but some really care very little.

It is important for the consumer to be aware of what they are walking into and the Dirty Dining report serves to remind us that we are ultimately responsible for our own choices when entering an eating establishment. We appreciate these attentive details to bad practices but my concerns are there is easy prey for small businesses struggling to survive. The Review Journal also posts announcements called the Restaurant Report that provides similar detail as to the failings of food establishments which seems a little more balanced.

——-

The Health Department of Southern Nevada is a pretty powerful organization in Las Vegas and have been invented into a resource that has become very important for a lot of Nevadans. Recent budget cutbacks have hit them hard. In some cases their authority appears to be very inflated because of I wondered how much they were inventing their own relevance in the face that so many places are allowed to get away with bad behavior while the attention seems to be selectively enforced. Feel free to leave your comments.