City Restauranteurs Not Worried About New Law

John Amodei was more than happy to let a stranger into his kitchen Thursday afternoon.

"I like people coming in to see it's as clean as it is out here," Amodei said, sitting in the booth of , his South Side pizzeria.  "I've seen pizza shops where the back is not like the front."

So he's not all that concerned about the new state law that creates new statewide standards inspecting any place in Pennsylvania that prepares or sells food.

Under the old law, inspection procedures varied from place to place. The new law -- which goes into effect January 22, 2011 --  says inspections must be based on regulations similar to those used by the FDA. 

But some restauranteurs say they aren't concerned about the changes. Clean is clean, said Nalisha Garcia, owner of on Third Street.

"It doesn't matter who's coming," she said. "I mean, why hide?"

Even if a restaurant owner wanted to hide, they can't, at least not a lot of the places in Easton. The state Department of Agriculture keeps a searchable database -- www.EatSafePA.com -- that allows the public to find out if eateries are up to code. The new law says that all inspection information be reported to the department each month to go onto the database.

Under the old state law, the only establishments you'd find in the database are ones inspect by some local health departments and by the state.  The database currently shows 129 establishments in Easton. Of those, only four are listed as "out of compliance."

Pino's is not one of them, although its most recent inspection listed a few minor violations.

Amodei admits that no place is perfect, and he said any problems that have been found at Pino's were easily corrected on scene. 

Easton inspects each of its eateries at least once a year, said Ted Veresink, the .  And he said it's not the number of violations an inspection turns up, but the severity. 

If the new law means more visits from the inspector for Amodei, he's OK with it. 

"I know some pizza shop owners, they don't see the inspector for three or four years," he said.