Restaurants that lost power during the snow storm on Oct. 29 will need to be reinspected before they can re-open, according to David Rogers, assistant director for environmental health at the Naugatuck Valley Health District.
The health district sent restaurant inspectors throughout Seymour, Beacon Falls and Naugatuck Monday to look for food establishments without power, Rogers said.
After lengthy power outages in August due to Hurricane Irene, the health district has a new way of dealing with its response to massive power failures.
“As a result of our experience during Irene, we put together a new protocol here,” Rogers said Monday.
Inspectors search for restaurants in areas with power failures — the same as always. If the restaurants are open without adequate power, the health district shuts them down. That’s also the same.
The difference is now the health district leaves a detailed note on the door — letting customers know why the restaurant is closed, and mandating that the owner call the health district before opening.
The note tells the owner they are required to be re-inspected when the power comes back on. It lists items that the inspection will focus on, Rogers said.
Those items include:
- having enough power for adequate refridgeration and ventilation
- having hot water for handwashing and dishwashing
Before Irene, the health district inspectors would simply make a list of restaurants that were closed, and follow up with them after.
In most cases, the health district wasn’t notified when the power came back on — so it could be days before they re-inspected the site.
“It was almost impossible to know what did or didn’t happen while the power was out,” Rogers said.
“We didn’t do it as efficiently during Irene as we wanted to,” Rogers said. “I wasn’t expecting to find out how the policy works quite this soon.”
In Seymour and Oxford, most restaurants and fast food establishments were closed Monday.
The Super Stop & Shop on Franklin Street in Seymour was open, but not selling any perishables like meats and seafood and most produce, according to the manager there.
The manager didn’t give her name, and referred all questions to a corporate spokesman.
The refrigerated display cases were all empty. Only canned and packaged foods were being sold.