One main goal Buchanan County commissioners have for their new inspector is to build better rapport and offer food safety classes to restaurant owners.

However, when the St. Joseph-Buchanan County Health Department makes inspections public, it affects business, said Western District Commissioner Ron Hook.

“It affects where people eat and it just becomes an issue and we feel we’ll be able to control this a little better in the county,” he said.

Mr. Hook knows the effect of such negative publicity firsthand.

Grand Slam Ice Cream Co., a restaurant he co-owns in the South Side, was found with four critical violations by a city health inspector on June 16.

A critical health code violation is a term health inspectors use to define a violation that has the potential to make someone sick.

Mr. Hook doesn’t believe the health department visit was politically motivated, but its timing was odd.

Earlier this year, the County Commission decided to opt out of its annual $135,000 contract with the city of St. Joseph for health services at the city/county health department.

“Just before we released our information to the health department, I was inspected the day before by both the inspector and fire marshal. I hope it was just coincidence. I don’t know. I’m just hoping it was,” Mr. Hook said.

Robin Rhodes, assistant health director at the St. Joseph-Buchanan County Health Department, said the surprise inspection visit was routine.

“The inspector that went in on that had no idea that Mr. Hook was the owner of it,” Mr. Rhodes said. “Nothing there was worthy to close them, certainly not issue a summons, but there were violations noted.”

The critical violations were an unlabeled chemical disinfectant bottle, slime on soda pop nozzles, a dirty slicer and excessive sanitizer in a wiping cloth bucket.

Mr. Hook says he doesn’t contest that the violations happened, but that the inspection be more of an educational process, something he hopes the county inspector will do more of.

“If it (a critical violation) hasn’t happened in the past and this is the first time it comes up, then educate us and let us know and we’ll get it corrected,” Mr. Hook said. “And if it happens again, then we should get written up.”

Ahmad Safi can be reached

at ahmadsafi@npgco.com.