Nearly half of Berkeley restaurants weren't inspected by city in 2023, report finds
The Berkeley City Council addressed the issue Tuesday night.
BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) -- A newly released audit says that 45% of restaurant inspections didn't happen last year in Berkeley.
The Berkeley City Council addressed the issue Tuesday night.
There certainly isn't a shortage of restaurants and food facilities in Berkeley but a new report out by Berkeley City Auditor Jenny Wong and her team found some startling food news.
"There were 45% of restaurants and other food facilities that were not inspected at all in 2023," said Wong.
Unlike many cities, Berkeley does its own inspections, something often done by counties. The report found that Alameda County's non-inspection rate was just 3% in 2023, which is a 42% difference from Berkeley's.
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It also found that only one out of four food-borne illness complaints were addressed within a day.
"They've had significant and chronic understaffing. We found that there were two positions left vacant since 2019," said Wong.
Berkeley residents ABC7 spoke with were not happy to hear the news.
"Very upsetting. Very upsetting to hear that!" Terrell Ratman said.
"Hire more people and inspect 100 percent of the restaurants," John Murphy said.
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The city's new Health, Housing, and City Services Director Scott Gilman, went on the defensive during the Berkeley City Council meeting Monday night.
"Clearly the spotlight is on us to fix this and exceed the public's expectations," Gilman said. "If we're not able to pull that off by the end of the year I think my new job should be questioned."
As to when and if these inspections will ever happen.
"We will have 100 percent of inspections for 2023 and 2024, complete by the end of this year," said Gilman.
"Whether we do want to take a closer look at partnering with the county to do this for us because they have the systems in place," said one council member.
"We have to make sure that when people dine in Berkeley they are safe it's not more complicated than that," said another council member.
For now, the focus will remain on Berkeley city officials fixing the problem.
The City of Berkeley has made an offer to someone to fill one of two unfilled spots. They hope to have that person on board in August. They have opened recruitment to fill the supervisor position, and they are trying to bring on some temporary workers to help catch up with inspections going forward.
