Apr 10, 2007 7:33 am US/Eastern
Health Inspector Resigns Over KFC Rat Flap
Big Changes Announced for Health Department
by Tamsen Fadal
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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February's fiasco at a Manhattan KFC/Taco Bell and Pizza Hut restaurants have prompted health department officials to examine their enforcement of health code rules.
CBS
There are several big changes about to get underway when it comes to how restaurants are going to be inspected around the city. It's the latest fallout after rats were caught on video running rampant at a KFC-Taco Bell in Greenwich Village where a city worker had just given a passing grade.
One day after a health department inspector gave passing grades to the Greenwich Cillage eatery, CBS 2's cameras caught rats running wild inside the restaurant. The inspector resigned Monday, just as the Department of Investigations recommended that she be fired.
The Department of Investigatios said that inspector Cemone Thomas "underreported the rodent-related findings and failed to take proper action ... which constituted a 'gross dereliction' of her duties."
On Feb. 22, Thomas documented only 87 rat droppings and didn't cite an additional 20, which would have caused the restaurant to fail the inspection and could have forced it to close immediately, the DOI said.
The DOI said evidence in the case suggested that Thomas simply couldn't be bothered to do a more comprehensive report because she might have been trying to "avoid the additional time it would have taken for further enforcement steps."
There are more changes underway.
First, the department plans to step up how it monitors records of calls to its 311 telephone complaint hot line and set a lower threshold for inspections.
In this case, a complaint was received by the health department on January 22, weeks before the rat infestation was caught on tape.
The caller said that a rat fell from the ceiling as he or she was eating.
Next, the department plants to change its evaluation process, which means putting a greater emphasis on droppings.
Finally, the inspection system is going to be revised to place more of an emphasis on the conditions that attract and sustain rodents.
In the wake of the rat infestation at that KFC-Taco Bell, the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell hired a rat expert to review its company standards at restaurants around New York City.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
SLIDESHOW: Rat Invasion At KFC
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