The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit has been asked for an explanation after a restaurant was forced to close for a day and a half last month.
The restaurant in the 1500-block of Lauzon Rd. was shut down on September 12th and allowed to re-open on the 14th, but the owner feels he was treated unfairly.
He contacted Ward 6 Councillor Jo-Anne Gignac who is now looking for answers.
"The owner of the business wanted to know where he could appeal and who had jurisdictional rights over the health unit and, quite frankly, I told him the health unit is provincially regulated, I was at a bit of a loss," says Gignac. "As I get further into the story, there were some troubling issues that I would like some clarification on."
The business owner told Gignac, the health inspector who shut him down was joined by another inspector, and he was given the green light to re-open.
The owner then informed Gignac that the restaurant was in the same condition as when it was shut down.
She says she would like the health unit to discuss the process with city staff.
"I am looking for clarity and it's mostly to be able to respond to people when they call in regard to jurisdictional rights of the health unit," says Gignac. "I guess clarification for myself in regard to what the process is that would determine that very I think far reaching decision to close a business."
AM800 News reached out to the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit for a response and was provided with the following statement:
"In response to your request for a comment regarding the City Councillor Questions Health Unit Over Restaurant Closure story. Our public health inspectors protect the health of our community by inspecting all food premises in the area and enforce provincial regulations. The results of all these inspections are posted on our website http://www.safefoodcounts.ca/. Anyone can visit the website to learn more about our food safety inspections to better understand how we protect our community. The website also contains the details of all the inspections carried out by our health inspectors.
Our inspectors are empowered by the province to close a food premises if they notice any severe infraction. They provide a detailed inspection report to the facility owner and identify the specific deficiencies and try to work with the owner to arrange a follow-up inspection to ensure that the deficiencies are addressed."