Tough test: Some Asian restaurants claim health inspectors are harder on them

Angela Soo

Monday, Sept. 10, 2001 | 10:51 a.m.

County health inspectors are harder on Asian restaurant owners than operators of other types of restaurants, according to the Asian Chamber of Commerce, and promises to provide sensitivity training to inspectors so far have gone unfilled.

During a July meeting between Asian restaurateurs and Clark County Health District officials sponsored by the chamber, restaurateurs complained that inspectors came into their establishments expecting to find problems -- exhibiting a stereotype that Asian restaurants are dirty.

When they downgraded an establishment, inspectors were slow to return to reinspect and restore a restaurant's grade, health officials were told.

Owners also complained of inconsistency among inspectors.

"The general feeling was that (health inspectors) act more authoritative than necessary," James Yu, president of the Asian Chamber of Commerce, said. "They also have no consistency. One would give a C grade and one would give an A to the same restaurant."

An A grade is the highest rating a restaurant can receive and means the inspector found 10 or fewer violations. A B grade is given if an inspector finds 11 to 20 violations, and a reinspection is done in 30 days -- sooner, if the restaurant requests it. A C is given for 20 or more violations, and an automatic reinspection is done in 10 days. Restaurants with 40 or more violations are closed.

Clark County Health District officials promised to provide cultural training during the meeting. But as of last week, no formal action has been taken on that promise, though discussions about the training have begun, Lonnie Empey, an environmental health supervisor, said.

Although restaurant owners are convinced that additional training is needed for certain health inspectors, health officials are just as convinced that the owners misinterpret the health department.

"We're aware that we may need some of that (sensitivity training) with our staff," Schmutz said. "But it was just a misunderstanding between the Asian operators."

"In any kind of regulatory function, you're always going to have some kind of misunderstanding," Health District Chief Donald Kwalick said. "People don't like being told what to do. Plus, there's a language barrier. There needs to be more cultural awareness, and inspectors will be going through some diversity training."

The bottom line, however, is keeping food safe, Kwalick said.

"It's not rocket science to make sure people wash their hands and keep food in certain temperatures.

"(The restaurant owners) are not doing what has to be done in protecting the public. The reason why we go out there is to protect public health. We're not picking on anybody."

Perry Boxx, a restaurant owner, said some inspectors appear to single out Asian establishments.

Boxx and his wife, Patti, who is Thai, own two Asian restaurants -- Thai Garden Restaurant, 5600 W. Spring Mountain Road, and Thai Garden Restaurant and Sushi Bar, 8826 S. Eastern Ave.

"It's ridiculous," said Boxx, who received a C grade in July after two years of A ratings at the Spring Mountain Road restaurant. Inspectors cited meats at improper temperatures and shrimp and chicken stored above milk and vegetables in the cooler. "The reports are so subjective."

In a formal complaint to the health district, Boxx expressed his anger with a particular health inspector.

The inspector was, "by all accounts, rude, condescending and dismissive during the inspection" on July 12, Boxx wrote. "All of the employees there were nervous and shaken by the way she behaved."

Boxx tried numerous times the next day to schedule another inspection after he and his wife corrected the problems.

The inspector agreed to schedule another appointment on July 18, but then she didn't show, nor did she call to cancel the appointment, he said. She later said there were bigger and more important restaurants to worry about, Boxx said.

"I don't believe there is anything in the law that says a big restaurant gets taken care of, but the small family-owned Asian restaurants go to the back of the bus," Boxx said.

Certain health inspectors may be more abrasive than others, but such traits do not interfere with their ability to perform a fair inspection, said Clare Schmutz, the director of environmental health services who oversees health supervisors.

"There may be some attitudes," Schmutz said. "But as far as we're concerned, the inspections are done fairly."

Previous health inspectors who inspected Boxx's restaurant noted that his was the cleanest Asian restaurant they have been to, Boxx said, implying that such cleanliness was rare among his peers.

Such comments, immigration attorney Linda Yoo said, illustrates a damaging stereotype among health inspectors: That Asian restaurants are dirty.

"The inspectors are going into these restaurants with a certain mindset, whether they know it or not," Yoo said. "They presume that Asian restaurants are not clean. Inspectors should do a sensitivity training to stop repeatedly saying things like that."

Chinatown Plaza Director of Operations Ramon Lester wrote a letter to the health district on behalf of the nine restaurants in the plaza saying that relations were fine until recently.

"We feel that our relationship has changed in the past few months from a position of cooperation and help to one of an adversarial nature," Lester wrote. "Many of these owners feel that some of the inspectors have negative preconceived opinions and ideas which affect their judgment."

Paula Brown, who attended the Chinatown Plaza meeting as the Clark County Health Board's chairwoman and regional director, a post she left Aug. 1, said the meeting was an important step in alerting health district department heads to the concerns of Asian restaurant owners.

"I think it's certainly a valid concern, especially when you're dealing with a regulatory agency," Brown said. "But at the same time, the health district has laws for public safety."

James Chen, president of the Chinatown Plaza, says he understands the importance of public safety, but inspectors should place an equal priority on restaurants that call for a reinspection and remain consistent in their grading standards.

"We support the health department, and we are helped by them to keep our restaurants in the best standard," Chen said. "We think it's to our benefit, but sometimes it can take weeks for inspectors to come back to reinspect. They say they are overloaded with work, but the restaurant owners feel shame about the C grade they have to put up. It sabotages business."

The county employs 30 inspectors to cover more than 11,000 restaurants. That's about one inspector for every 366 restaurants, though that ratio should improve once the health district recruits four more. The Los Angeles Department of Health Services, the equivalent of the county's health district, has one inspector for every 230 food facilities.

Clark County health inspectors rotate to different districts every one to two years and are required to perform at least two inspections a year for each restaurant. Problems usually occur when a new inspector arrives interprets grading standards differently.

"It confuses the restaurant owners when health inspectors are not consistent with their inspections," Chen said. "They need to do more explaining on why something was a problem now and never before."

Not all inspectors hesitate to do so, according to Karen Qiu, who owns China Joe's, 720 S. Boulder Highway, in Henderson, and has had three different health inspectors since her restaurant opened in 1999.

"The health inspectors were all helpful and explained why something was wrong," Qiu, who recently received her second C grade, said in Chinese. "And if I didn't understand a regulation or the health inspection report, I would try to find someone else to translate it for me."

After Qiu corrected her problems, she was able to schedule a reinspection two days later and upgraded her restaurant to an A standard, a status she typically holds.

The Asian Chamber of Commerce is trying to help with such situations, recently translating a two-page health district flier highlighting regulations and the do's and don'ts of food handling. The list now is offered in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai and Vietnamese.

Empey said the health district also tried to address the language barrier by recruiting two bilingual inspectors from the health department in Los Angeles. But that fell through.

"We are earnestly trying to find a medium and working on a written protocol for our inspectors," Empey said. "The language barrier is really tremendous. We're not singling out the Asian community just to punish them. We just call it the way we see it."

Emily Richmond contributed to this story.

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