HARRISBURG, Pa. — Inspectors with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Food Safety distributed 105 COVID-19 educational letters and referred four COVID-19 complaints to local and county health jurisdictions during restaurant enforcement actions between August 10 and August 16, the agency said Tuesday.
The Bureau of Food Safety visited a total of 631 restaurants across the state during that span, the Department of Agriculture said. A total of 31 of those inspections were prompted by complaints, nine of which were COVID-19 specific, the department said.
The inspections were done to ensure restaurants were following state COVID-19 mitigation guidelines including social distancing, masking, and occupancy limits, the department said.
A county by county breakdown of COVID-19 restaurant enforcement actions can be found on the Department of Agriculture’s website. The data will be updated weekly, with data from the previous week.
Among other requirements, all businesses in the restaurant and retail food service industry authorized to conduct in-person activities are mandated to:
- Require all customers to wear a mask while entering, exiting, or otherwise traveling through the restaurant or retail food service business (mask may be removed while seated).
- Employees are required to wear masks at all times.
- Provide at least six feet between parties at tables or physical barriers between customers where booths are arranged back to back.
- Ensure maximum occupancy limits for indoor and outdoor areas are posted and enforced.
The Bureau of Food Safety has always operated with an education-first model, and always works to educate and correct on-site before taking official action. Businesses unwilling to correct on-site will first receive a warning letter, followed by monetary citations ranging from $25 to $300 per offense. Following an initial warning, food safety inspectors will follow up with unannounced inspections to ensure compliance or issue citations as necessary.
Consumers with general food safety complaints or concerns about non-compliance for COVID-19 mitigation can file a report online. COVID-19 mitigation restaurant enforcement actions will be released on a weekly basis.
SOURCE: Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
