Sept. 15, 2008
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VDH ADDS SMOKING STATUS TO RESTAURANT WEB SITE
(RICHMOND, Va.) — Diners can now go online to learn the smoking status of their favorite eateries throughout Virginia. The Virginia Department of Health has added new information to its Web site to allow consumers to find out a restaurant’s smoking status and view a list of a locality’s dining spots that shows whether smoking is allowed. Residents can log on to www.vdh.virginia.gov and click on “Restaurant Inspections.”
“Many consumers want additional information, such as whether smoking is permitted or banned, to help them decide where to dine,” said State Health Commissioner Karen Remley, M.D., MBA. “We now provide that information on our Web site.”
Since 2003, the Virginia Department of Health’s Web site has featured food safety information about restaurants and other food service facilities in the state, based on data gathered in more than 60,000 unannounced restaurant inspections a year. The reports are designed to help the public be well-informed consumers.
The department recently added to its database the smoking status of all fast food and full service restaurants in Virginia. Smoke-free facilities are identified with a non-smoking icon. “Non-smoking” for the VDH Web site’s purpose means smoking is not permitted anywhere inside the restaurant but may be permitted outside.
“Since each restaurant is inspected at least once a year, it gave us the opportunity to determine the smoking status and include that information in our database,” said Robert W. Hicks, Director of the Office of Environmental Health Services. “Updates to the database will be made when we become aware of a change in the smoking status.”
Consumers can expect a week’s delay between when a restaurant inspection report is entered into the database and when the new information will appear on the Web site and about a day to update information about a restaurant’s smoking status. The popular Web site averages more than 90,000 visits a month.
