OCEAN COUNTY – As restaurants begin to reopen, the Ocean County Health Department will be some of the first people in the establishments, inspecting them to make sure patrons and employees are safe.
Outdoor dining is scheduled to begin on June 15. The inspectors will be making the rounds as these open. Previous to this date, the Health Department had been inspecting restaurants that are offering curbside and drive through services, as well as grocery stores.
“The main goals of the compliance checks up to this point were to ensure substantial compliance with the New Jersey State Food Code,” said Daniel Regenye, OCHD Public Health Coordinator/Health Officer. “Official ratings were not given at that time, however a facility that was not in substantial compliance would have been given a full inspection and time afforded to correct issues.”
Any eatery that is not complying with COVID-19 executive orders will be referred to the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department for enforcement, he said.
“We not only want to make sure you’re safe from food-borne illness and other health concerns while dining out but we also want to keep everyone safe when we are in these establishments doing our job,” said OCHD Environmental Health Coordinator John Protonentis. “We’ll have a typical busy summer ahead of us with approximately 3,250 retail food establishments within the jurisdiction of the OCHD with a good amount scheduled for inspection. The OCHD will also continue to provide guidance and assistance to long-term health care facility food preparation activities to those that request such.”
The following is a list of rules that establishments must follow:
- Ensure all areas designated for food and/or beverage consumption are in conformance with applicable local, state, and federal regulations;
- Limit capacity to a number that ensures all patrons can remain six feet apart from all other patrons at all times, except for those patrons with whom they are sharing a table;
- Ensure that tables seating individual groups are six feet apart in all directions and that individual seats in any shared area that is not reserved for individual groups, such as an outdoor bar area, are also six feet apart in all directions;
- Prohibit patrons from entering the indoor premises of the food or beverage establishment, except to walk through such premises when entering or exiting the food or beverage establishment in order to access the outdoor area, or to use the restroom;
- Require patrons to wear a face covering while inside the indoor premises of the food or beverage establishment, unless the patron has a medical reason for not doing so or is a child under two years of age; and
- Prohibit smoking in any outdoor areas designated for the consumption of food and/or beverages. The requirement that food or beverage establishments impose this prohibition shall automatically sunset once food or beverage establishments are permitted to offer in-person service in indoor areas.
“The OCHD still expect our residents to follow social distancing and health hygiene measures whether dining out or participating in other activities,” Regenye said. “Food establishment managers and their staff must encourage customers to follow these guidelines if we hope to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus moving forward.”
For more information about these guidelines, visit ochd.org.
