Clackamas County environmental health manager outlines restaurant inspections, enforcement and rise in unlicensed vendors

Julie Hamilton, environmental health program manager in Clackamas County's Health, Housing and Human Services Department, said county inspectors visit restaurants and food carts unannounced twice a year to check for conditions that can cause foodborne illness.

"We go through the front of the house, the back of the house," Hamilton said, describing how inspectors ask staff about processes they may not observe and test temperatures and sanitation. "For pools we're looking at chemistry, the water balance for chlorine and the pH" and for food establishments inspectors focus on high-risk issues such as handwashing, employees working while ill and temperature control.

Hamilton told host Dylan Blaylock that Clackamas County follows the model food code written by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is implementing changes after Oregon adopted the…