BERKELEY — Nearly 200 restaurants and half of Berkeley’s food facilities did not have a health inspection last year, a problem the city auditor attributes to a shortage of inspectors, according to a report released Wednesday. The backlog in Berkeley, which is one of four cities in California to run its own health inspection program, is far worse than that of Alameda County, which covers a larger territory, the auditor said. The Berkeley Food Inspection Program is tasked with oversight of nearly 1,000 facilities, from restaurants to markets, caterers, co-ops and temporary vendors.
Last year, 193 restaurants were missed, the report says. “Meeting their inspection targets is critical to fulfilling their role to protect public health and safety,” City Auditor Jenny Wong wrote. The audit, initiated last October, reviewed inspection data from 2023 and staffing information from 2019 through 2023.
Wong and her team found that a growing number of vacancies in the Environmental Health Division, including leadership roles, meant three full-time inspectors were doing the work of seven to eight people. Without adequate staffing and reliable program software, city workers were unable to stay on top of inspections or prioritize higher-risk facilities; 184 places with that designation were not properly visited. About 45 percent of Berkeley’s food facilities, mostly restaurants, went without an inspection.
By comparison, the Alameda County Department of Environment Health, which ins.
