Category: General News

Natalie Ladd has weighed in on the issue in her weekly column in the Portland Daily Sun,

The Portholes of the world (and once again, they are not alone) should be the minority and should be closed down. Unless we pull out the safety and cleaning checklists and actually use them in a structured, consistent fashion, much more than a sketchy economy is going to hurt our pockets.

and the Press Herald includes an editorial on the need for more restaurant inspectors.

A city the size of Portland, especially one that has so many restaurants, should have more than one inspector for this important job. Portland will never maintain its reputation as a “foodie” city if it can’t assure the public that its commercial kitchens follow the law. If restaurant owners think the inspections are a pain, wait until they can’t prove that their businesses comply with safety standards. They will be anxious to get the health department’s attention.

According to a report in today’s Press Herald, the City is planning to adjust the restaurant inspection code, increase fees and add more inspectors.

City Manager Mark Rees said he intends to ask for funding in next year’s budget for additional restaurant inspectors and resources. Portland has one full-time inspector, who inspected only 49 of the city’s 800 eating establishments in her first year on the job. She failed 39 of them. State law requires restaurants to be inspected every two years.

The Press Herald has published another article about restaurant inspections in Portland,

[President of the Maine Restaurant Association Dick] Grotton said Portland restaurants, many of which are in old buildings, are being cited for facility issues, such as not having a covered trash recetacle in the ladies room.

Instead of focusing on what are considered non-critical violations, he said, the city should concentrate on critical violations that could lead to illness.

“There are degrees of bad,” he said. “We need to separate what’s really important and what’s just part of the code.”

MPBN also interviewed Groton about the restaurant inspection process,

But Dick Grotton, president of the Maine Restaurant Association, says the records alone don’t provide a complete picture – mainly because some of the violations have nothing to do with food safety. Grotton spoke with MPBN’s Jennifer Mitchell.

The full Maine Food Code is available online on Maine.gov.

Today’s Press Herald widens their reporting on restaurant health inspections. Based on city documents they found that,

In August 2011, Portland hired its first health inspector devoted to restaurants. Since then, the inspector, Michele Sturgeon, has inspected 49 restaurants and failed 39 of them. Six failed initial follow-up inspections and three failed multiple follow-ups. In general, a restaurant fails if it has more than 13 violations.

There’s a report that the state has criticized “Portland officials Thursday for allowing the owner of [The Porthole] to cook a lobster dinner for a wedding reception in a kitchen that had been closed for health code violations.”

The Press Herald has published another article in its continuing coverage of the health inspection issues at The Porthole.

Less than a month before the Porthole was shut down for health code violations, the city’s health inspector documented 28 violations at the waterfront restaurant but allowed it to stay open.

The Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald includes an article about Maine’s cider industry,

Hard apple cider is a longtime New England tradition, and has a storied history in America going all the way back to the founders. Now the fizzy brew is finding new fans, thanks in part to small, local producers who are turning out a more European-style cider that’s tarter than the sweet stuff that’s usually produced in this country.

a preview of the eating options and educational programs at this weekend’s Common Ground Fair, the paper’s annual apple buying guide and an Appel on Wine column on coffee.

Coffee by Design co-owner, Mary Ellen Lindermann, and a CBD barista, Emily Broadbent, were on the Fox morning show yesterday to talk about Coffee by Design’s line up of specialty Fall drinks.

The list of this year’s Indie Biz nominees includes a number of local food businesses: Allagash, Coffee by Design, DiMillo’s, Dobra, Eventide, Kamasouptra, Local Sprouts, Micucci’s, Portland Permaculture, Rosemont, Silly’s, Speckled Ax, The Holy Donut, The Honey Exchange, and Yordprom.

As part of their ongoing coverage, the Press Herald has explored the Porthole’s health inspection history.

Reports from 2007 to 2009 show that city inspectors found similar problems, with dirty or malfunctioning equipment, holes in the ceiling and walls, peeling paint, broken or missing floor tiles, and plumbing that wasn’t up to code.

The Bangor Daily News reports that Gelato Fiasco is being recognized by Empact100, an organization that highlights “the impact young entrepreneurs make on our economy and an inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs”.

But this is one business that has turned into anything but a fiasco, as a national organization called Empact100 has taken notice. Davis and Tropeano are among 100 up-and-coming entrepreneurs who will be honored later this month at the White House.